His End Game (MMG #1) (26 page)

I was conflicted about my feelings for him. We were getting along and I knew that he was a genuinely good person. That said, it did not change the fact that he had abandoned me. I felt the need to keep him at arms-length. I didn’t know what role I wanted him to play in my life but I knew I wanted him there.

Benny hadn’t met my dad yet so I decided to have him over for dinner to introduce them. They hit it off like a house on fire and after dinner exchanged contact information.

As I walked Benny out to his truck, he patted me on the shoulder. “Everyone deserves a chance, Ellie girl. I would give the clothes off my back to get another chance with my family…. with Max.” When he said that, he squeezed my neck. “I know you would too. Don’t take your dad being in your life for granted. Look at it as a gift.”

I hugged him and promised to think about it.

The next night, Dillon called in at the last minute and said he couldn’t work his shift but didn’t give a reason why. That left
me working with Garrett, Kurt and the girls. Mass Seduction was on fire. I was sad that Joss wasn’t there but she wanted to stay home and look through bridal magazines. We had a good time behind the bar and it was nice not having any Dillon and Dana conflict…for once.

When our shift was over, Garrett walked me out to my car and, in the nicest way possible, told me not to get involved with Dillon. He felt that Dillon had some sick and twisted thing going on with Dana and that, if I got in the middle of it, I would just get hurt. I thanked him for being concerned for me. Right before getting into my car, he pulled me into a hug and said, “Something better is out there for you, Ellie. I just know it.”

I just wish I did
.

Sunday morning I woke with a raging fever and a throat so sore that I could barely swallow. Never in all my life had I felt this rotten. I got up and dressed to go to the doctor. My dad, who was drinking coffee in the kitchen, took one look at me and went straight into father mode. He took me to the doctor and sat in the waiting room with me for three hours. Then, on the way home he ran into both the grocery store and the pharmacy. I had never had strep throat before. It was awful.

By Tuesday afternoon I was feeling one hundred percent better. After breakfast I was hanging out in the living room with my dad when the phone rang.

Jumping from my chair, I ran to grab it. “Hello?”

“Ellie!” screamed Joss, “get your ass over here, right now!”

“What?”

“You have to come over to our place right now!”

“I’m not even dressed, Joss, plus, I have strep throat.”

“You’re on antibiotics, for Pete’s sake! It’s only me and Kurt and we sure as shit don’t care what you look like!”

“Gee, thanks,” I replied dryly.

She laughed. “You know what I mean.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be right over.”

I looked over at my dad as I hung up the phone.

“Are you okay with me running over to Joss and Kurt’s for a bit?”

“Ellie, you don’t need to ask every time you go somewhere.”

Did I do that
?

“I wasn’t aware I was doing that.”

“You have taken me in and nursed me and I can’t tell you how much this means to me, but I think it’s probably time I get back to Raleigh and you get back to living your life, don’t you?”

“But you are still healing and I’ll worry about you if you leave now. You at least need one more week, okay?” I didn’t want him to go.

I knew he saw right through me, yet he was gracious enough not to call me on it.

“Okay honey, you’re right, I do still feel a little weak. One more week and I’ll be as good as new,” he smiled.

I sighed in relief. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“I’ll be here.”

Before I had a chance to put the car in park Joss shot out of the house like a bat out of hell being chased by a hairy one-eyed demon. Waving her hands in the air she shrieked, “I’m getting married! I’m getting married!”

I knew it!

We were jumping up and down, hugging and squealing like little girls when Kurt came out of the house grinning from ear to ear.

“Can we take the love fest in the house before our neighbors call the cops, please?” he asked, before picking me up in a bear hug. “She said yes,” he whispered in my ear and my eyes welled.

My best friends are getting married
.

I held out my hand. “Let me see it.”

Joss held up her hand and perched on her finger was a ginormous round diamond set in the most amazing diamond band that I had ever seen. “Wow, I breathed,” looking up at Kurt, “you’ve done well, my friend. This is awesome.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Joss sighed.

“How did he propose?”

“Come in and I’ll give you all the details.” I followed them into the house and parked it in my usual spot on the living room sofa.

“Well, when Kurt got home last night, he was acting all tired and cranky and wanted ice cream. So, I went to get some. When I got home, there were like a million candles lit all over the bedroom and bathroom. He had run a bubble bath and had both champagne and chocolates waiting for me.”

I glanced over at Kurt, who was grinning like a mad man. “You really thought of everything, didn’t you?”

“Anyway,” she interrupted, “he poured us both a glass of champagne and turned on my absolute favorite love song, you know, the one from Titanic, by Celine Dion? Well, wanting to properly thank him, I leaned over to bl…”

“Blast!” Kurt butted in. “Right as she was about to blast us out of the bathroom with such an incredibly
beautiful
love song, I popped the question.”

She arched her eyebrow at him. “I was going to say blow out the candles. Anyway, when I said yes to his proposal, he carried me to the bed and we f…”

“Fell asleep!” he shouted. “We fell into the best sleep, ever.”

I was now laughing really hard. I couldn’t decide who was funnier at that moment, Joss or Kurt.

Joss looked at Kurt like he had just sprouted four heads out of the middle of his forehead. “What is your problem?”

“Awww, hell Joss, she’s like my sister.”

“So?”

“I don’t want my sister knowing the details of my sex life.”

“For your information, I wasn’t going to tell her about our sex life, but just so you know,” she smiled mischievously, “your so-called
sister
knows all about the time we got hammered and you did me in the a…”

“Joss!” he shouted.

“Apartment that was vacant across the hall,” she smirked. “Mind in the gutter much?” she asked him. “Then, I also told her about the time you lubed up my…..”

“Fuuuuck,” he groaned.

I was rolling on the floor in hysterics. “Stop, please!” I shouted. “I can’t breathe!”

They smiled at each other and my heart squeezed at the love that they felt for each other.

Once I was back under control I asked, “So, when’s the big day?”

“I am giving Joss three months to plan it,” Kurt said.

“Three months?” I gasped. “Have you lost your mind? We can’t plan it that fast!”

“Come hell or high water, Ellie, I am marrying the love of my life in exactly three months.” Joss laughed at the expression of horror on my face. “You think three months is bad? It took every trick in my bag to get that much time out of him. He wanted to go
this coming weekend
to Vegas!”

What was up with that
?

I stayed until I noticed them both fidgeting to get at each other. With hugs and kisses, I headed home. I was truly happy for them but also felt a twinge of sadness.

This could have been me with Max
.

When I got home I told my dad all about the proposal. This got him asking questions about my friendship with Joss and Kurt. Benny had talked a lot about Max the night before and I knew that my dad was curious about him, but I wasn’t ready to go there. Skimming over the parts about Max, I told him about the evolution of Piper, Joss and Kurt. It felt good to talk about my past without the pain. It felt good to laugh with him. I felt… almost like a daughter.

I was nervous about work on Thursday night. After all, I hadn’t seen or spoken to Dillon in a week. All kinds of crazy thoughts ran through my head.

Why wasn’t he at work on Saturday? Was he with Dana? If he wants me so badly, then why hasn’t he called or texted me? What if everyone is right about him? What if he ends up hurting me
?

By the time I got to Dragonfly, I was completely frazzled. I took a few deep breaths before going in, squared my shoulders and opened the door.

“Ellie D,” his deep voice called from the bar. “I was wondering when you were going to get here?”

Slipping behind the bar, I said, “Hey there stranger, where have you been?”

“Stranger? I’m no stranger or, at least, I hope I’m not.” Shifting behind me, he slid my hair off my shoulder and touched his lips to the back of my neck. “I want to know you up close and personal,” he said as he brushed his lips against my sensitive skin. Goose-bumps shot up all over my body. Leaning against him, I dropped my head forward in invitation.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Turning my head, I caught a glimpse of Kurt storming toward us and quickly took a step forward. I cringed when Dillon pulled me back and answered, “Nothing, why?”

“Did I just see you kissing her neck, D? And are those your hands on her hips? It doesn’t look like nothing so, I’ll ask you again, what the hell is going on here?”

Pulling away, I rolled my eyes at both of them. “Nothing is going on Kurt.”

Dillon smirked. “Oh, something is most definitely going on,” he muttered under his breath.

I gave him a dirty look and mouthed “Stop.”

“Ellie, can I see you in my office, now?” Kurt stressed.

“No dad, you may not,” I snapped.

“Kurt, man, it’s time to open the doors and what happens between Ellie and me has nothing to do with you.”

“The hell it doesn’t. You have no idea who she is or what she has been through, D.”

“Who, who is?” Lena asked, coming through the door.

Not wanting anybody else in my private business, I said, “Kurt, I will meet you in your office after the shift and we’ll talk, okay?”

This seemed to appease him. “Fine, but
you
,” he pointed at Dillon, “keep your hands to yourself.”

Dillon saluted him with his middle finger. “Eye, Eye captain,” he sarcastically replied.

Great
.

Before Kurt could punch him, Lena cut in. “D, did you finally get caught playing with yourself behind the bar?”

“It’s about time he got caught, Polly smirked, playing along. I was getting tired of cleaning up his mess.”

Crudely grabbing his crotch, he grinned. “Well, when you’ve got one this big, ladies, he has to be handled regularly.”

“I’ll be sure and ask Dana about that the next time I see her,” Garrett said, winking at me.

Everyone laughed at this, except for me…and Dillon.

Kurt shouted from the back of the bar, “Okay people, Joss is running late, so it looks like I’ll be filling in until she gets here. Tonight is margarita night, so all hands need to be on deck and not on each other. Am I clear?” He looked straight at Dillon, who just smiled and flipped him another bird.

The bar phone rang and broke the tension. Being closest to it, I answered “Dragonfly.”

“Ellie, let me speak to Kurt.” Joss said.

“Everything okay?”

“Get Kurt,” she snapped.

“Bite my head off, why don’t you?” I snapped back and before she could chew me, I thrust the phone at Kurt.

What’s her problem
?

“Kurt here,” he said. He listened for a few seconds and then, looking shocked, whispered “What did you just say?” Apparently, whatever she said was a doozy because his head shot up and his eyes bugged out of his head right before they landed on me.

Oh God, someone died
.

He listened some more, said, “I’ll be right there” and hung up.

We waited for what seemed like forever for him to say something, but he just stood there staring at me. Not being able to stand it any longer, I asked, “Kurt, what’s wrong? Has something happened to Joss?”

“Uuuh… no. It’s nothing,” his voice shook.