Read Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) Online

Authors: R.B. Hilliard

Tags: #romance, #erotic, #Fiction

Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (2 page)

BOOK: Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4)
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Three years later, I was finally going back. I didn’t hate Max anymore. I felt somewhat indifferent towards him. However, when he called to tell me he and Ellie were back together, having a baby and getting married, the little girl in me stood up and cheered. Ellison Davis represented the good before the bad. She made my brother the happiest I’d ever seen him. When we had to leave Charlotte, I stopped speaking and Max…well, Max stopped living. The light that burned so bright inside of him had been painfully snuffed out, all because of me. He had to learn to live without Ellison, Kurt and the people he loved the most because of my selfish stupidity.
We both did.

A voice came over the loudspeaker telling the passengers to prepare for our descent into Charlotte Douglas Airport. I pulled my purse onto my lap and closed my eyes
. Please let me get through this week in one piece.

Forty-five minutes later I was through customs and heading down the long hallway to the baggage claim area. Max and I spotted each other at the same time. His face lit up with a huge smile and my breath hitched in my throat. I tried to recall the last time I’d seen him smile and couldn’t. My eyes pricked with tears as I dropped my bags and stepped into his open arms.

“Welcome home, Sis,” he murmured. He smelled the same as I’d remembered and I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion.

“It’s good to be here,” I tearfully admitted.

He stepped back and took me in. “You look so much like Mom, it’s scary.” His voice was thick with emotion and I had to swallow to keep from blubbering like a baby. “I’m going to have to kick some serious ass while you’re home, aren’t I?” I snorted and he laughed. Then he picked up my bags and I followed him out to his truck.

On the way to the house, he explained that Ellie wanted to come to the airport with him, but he wanted a minute alone with me. I knew he wanted to talk about me moving back. He’d been alluding to it on the phone for months now. Somehow, I’d managed to put him off…until now.

“Things are crazy busy with the wedding and all. I don’t want you to feel lost in the shuffle,” he explained. “I want to show you the garage while you’re here. We still have a ways to go, but I think you’ll be pleased with what we’ve done so far. I also want to talk to you about moving back home.” And there it was, just as I’d predicted. I cocked an eyebrow at him and he smirked. “You had to know it was coming. Now that Rocky and his guys are in custody, I want you home with me, with us,” he corrected. He slid his hand to mine and squeezed. “It’s not just me. Ellison wants you home with us too, Sarah.”

How did I tell him no without making him angry? Max was not someone who took the word “no” well, especially from me. I started out delicately. “I have one more year of University, Max. I can’t just leave.”

“Sure you can. UNC Charlotte has a business program. I drove to the school a few months ago and talked to the Dean. He said your transcripts were in tip top shape and a transfer should be no problem.”

Of course he did.

Calmly, I explained my position on the matter. “I doubt it is that easy and, even if it was, I’m not interested in moving back.” The surprised look on his face quickly turned to hurt.

“Why not?”

“I’m twenty years old, Max. I had no say when you shipped me off to Scotland, but I do now and, truthfully, I’m not sure if I want to move back.”

As we pulled into Ellie’s driveway, Max put the truck in park and turned to face me. His happy expression from earlier was gone and I hated knowing I was the reason for its disappearance. I hated making him sad.

“First of all, I had zero choice in whether or not you went away. Your life was in danger. I had already lost everything that mattered to me and I wasn’t willing to lose you, too,” he stated.

Now it was my turn to be surprised. I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but the screeching of Ellie and Piper, as they shot from the house and swarmed the truck, interrupted the discussion. “We will talk more about this later,” Max said, right as Ellie flung open my car door and pulled me into a big hug.

That night I had dinner with Max, Ellie, Piper, Kurt, Kurt’s wife, Joss and Ellie’s dad, Sam. Ellie was the same sweet person, but even more beautiful than I remembered. I couldn’t believe that she was carrying my niece or nephew. Kurt was exactly the same, except all grown up. Joss reminded me of a tiny blonde firecracker. She was outspoken and funny and I could see why Kurt was crazy about her. For an old guy, Ellie’s dad Sam wasn’t hard to look at. Watching my brother smile and laugh the entire evening took some getting used to. The Max I’d left in Kentucky three years ago was a stern, stoic man, who rarely smiled and never laughed. It was both strange and wonderful to see him happy again.

The person in the group who had changed the most was Piper. The once boisterously loud, narcissistic girl had become a quietly subdued woman. From the looks of concern on everyone’s faces, I was not the only one who noticed this.

As dessert was being served, the phone rang.

“Sarah, it’s for you,” Max called from the kitchen.

“Look at you already making plans,” Joss teased.

Excusing myself from the table, I bolted up the stairs to the guest room and picked up the phone. “Got it!” I shouted down to Max and waited for him to hang up.

“I can’t believe you are finally here!” Amanda shouted.

Amanda Mills was one of the few people I’d managed to keep in touch with after we moved to Kentucky. She was also one of the many reasons Max and the agents in charge of our case decided to send me to Scotland. Six months after we ran, they discovered I’d been talking to Amanda and other friends from Charlotte. I was a selfish, angry, rebellious teenager.
What did they expect?

“I can’t believe I’m here either! I have so much to tell you. What’s the plan?” I asked.

“We are going out! I have your ID ready to go. You are Sarah Pember and are twenty-two years old. Sound good?”

I was instantly skeptical. “My brother will freak, Mandy. You know how protective of me he is.”

“Relax, the picture is real. Max will never find out. The guy I used to make the ID’s is a real professional. Now, throw on something hot. Becki and I will be by to get you in thirty minutes.” A flash of guilt hit, but I shook it off.
Why shouldn’t I go out? I can always hang with Max and Ellie tomorrow night.

I quickly unpacked my suitcase. At the last second, I decided to change from my long sleeved button down shirt to a sweater. The front draped down just far enough to show a little skin. The back, however, dipped almost to my bra and exposed most of my back. It was both classy and sexy. I threw on my charcoal skinny jeans and dark grey Converse.

Like Max, I was born with a head full of dark brown hair. Mine, however, was not wavy like his, but wildly curly like our mother’s. The only way I could keep the curls under control was by wearing it long. Last month I had caramel highlights put in and, had to admit, it looked fabulous. Using the blow dryer, I tamed the curls into pretty waves. Then I lined my deep blue eyes with charcoal liner and put on a thick coat of mascara. Last, I glossed my lips a deep berry color and spritzed with perfume. Not wanting Max to have a coronary when he saw the missing back of my sweater, I made sure to slip into my black denim jacket. Snagging my purse and phone from the bed, I headed down the stairs. As I hit the bottom step, I spotted Amanda’s car parked in the driveway through the front windows.

“I’m going out with Mandy and her friend. Be back later!” I yelled, as I opened up the front door.

“Wait, you’re going out?” I heard Max shout from somewhere in the house. I stopped on the front porch and waited for him to appear. Sure enough, Max, followed by Ellie, Kurt and Joss all appeared in the doorway. Max was scowling at me. After seeing him smile so much over dinner, his scowl seemed out of place. Once again, a flash of guilt rocketed through me.

“Damn girl,” Kurt said under his breath. Joss smacked him and he swatted her on the ass.

Ellie smiled and held out a spare key. “You look amazing, Sarah. Have fun tonight. Here’s the spare key. We’ll give you the alarm code tomorrow.”

“Where are you going?” Max asked.

“Out with Amanda and Becki,” I nonchalantly replied.

“Be home by eleven,” he clipped.

“I hate to tell you this, but that was my curfew three years ago, big brother,” I jokingly replied.

“Max, she’s an adult,” Ellie gently scolded.

“She’s my baby sister,” he snapped.

“Who is an adult,” Ellie added.

“How about this, I promise to come home sometime tonight. Does that work?”

“Yes,” Ellie said.

“No,” Max said.

Kurt laughed.

“Come on!” Amanda yelled from the car.

Leaning up on my tip-toes, I kissed Max’s cheek and whispered, “Love you.” He let out a sigh of resignation and I fled to the car before he changed his mind.

I waved goodbye as Amanda peeled out of the driveway. On the way to the bar, she formally introduced me to Becki. Amanda and Becki were roommates at UNC Charlotte. Amanda had bobbed blonde hair and big green eyes. Becki had long brown hair and big brown eyes. The tips of her hair were dyed a pretty turquoise color. Two things I had going for me were my height and my chest size. Normally big boobs made women look larger than they were. On me, however, they only accented how thin I was everywhere else. If you took away my boobs, I had nothing. Amanda was the polar opposite of me. She was short and curvy in all the right places. Guys preferred curvy women.

Ten minutes later, we pulled in front of a free standing two story brick house. The sign above the front door said Patterson’s. Once we exited the car, Amanda slipped her arm through mine and gave it a big squeeze. At five feet eight inches, I towered over both girls.
Good call on not wearing heels tonight.

Amanda handed me my ID right as the bouncer stepped out to greet us. In a flash, our hands were stamped and we were inside.
Love Me Two Times
serenaded us as we made our way across the floor to the bar.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“A bar,” Amanda sarcastically replied.

“Say it isn’t so?” I gasped, in my best Scottish accent.

Becki laughed.

The inside of the pub reminded me of Scotland and I felt a sudden pang of homesickness.
I wonder what Lyndsey is up to right now?

When I was told I was going to live in Scotland, I was terrified. I didn’t know anyone there. It was a foreign place with strange people. How was I going to survive? Max and the two agents in charge of us assured me I was going to live with a nice family. Thankfully, they were right. Grant and Lyndsey Hodson were wonderful people. Their daughter, Reece, was a few years younger than me and their son, Heath, was born the month after I arrived. I practically helped raise him. Lyndsey was Scottish, whereas Grant was American. They lived in Pennsylvania until Reece was ten and then moved to Edinburgh, where they had been living ever since.

Amanda slung her arm around my neck and squeezed. I tried to shrug her off and she laughed. “Oh no you don’t. I get to hug you as much as I want tonight. Damn, girl, I still can’t believe you are standing here with me. What are you drinking?”

“Beer, I’ll get it,” I told her. Due to watching my dad drink and smoke away his life, I was not a big drinker. When I did drink, I stuck mainly to beer.

“I’ve got it. You get the next round.”

I followed Becki across the crowded bar to an empty booth. As we waited for Amanda to bring over our drinks, I took in the room. The bar stood to our left and an empty dance floor on our right. We had the perfect view of both. A song about roller coasters began playing and Becki huffed.

“Be right back. I’m going to pick some real music,” she announced.

I watched her maneuver through the tables and laughed when some guy tried to grab her ass and she thumped him on the forehead.

Five minutes or so passed and I began wondering what was taking Amanda so long. I looked for her and finally noticed her across the bar talking to some guys. Amanda and I couldn’t be more different. She liked attention. I did not. I grazed over the rest of the bar and paused for a brief second on two men sitting on the far side. Both were good looking men. One of them saw me staring and I quickly turned away. A minute or so later, I glanced back over. He was still staring.
Oh God, what do I do?
I didn’t mean to catch his attention.
Calm down, you’re just looking, Sarah
. We sat across the bar staring at each other for what seemed like ages and, I had to admit, I really liked what I was seeing…dark hair, dark eyes and deliciously full lips. The man was a feast for the eyes, that’s for sure.

“Sorry, I ran into a guy from one of my classes and it took me forever to lose him.” I tore my eyes away from the dark stranger and watched Amanda set the drinks down on the table. “Where’s Becks?” she asked.

“Changing the music,” I told her.

“Cheers,” she said, tapping her glass to my bottle. “When are you moving back?”

“Max asked that same question on the way to the house tonight,” I told her.

Her eyebrow shot to her hairline. “Aaaaand?”

“You know I have a year left in school. After that, we’ll see.”

“You know you can always finish school here.” Her pouty expression humored me.

“I have a decent job and good friends there, Mandy.”

“Your job is serving coffee, something you can do anywhere, and you have good friends here,” she huffed.

Becki slid in beside us and Amanda switched the subject to Becki’s latest conquest, a guy they called “Slick.” Only half listening to their banter, I glanced back over at the good looking stranger and was disappointed to see he was no longer there. Vance Joy’s
Riptide
poured from the speakers.

“Your pick?” Amanda asked Becki.

“No, but I like it,” Becki replied. “What’s more, I like what’s sitting at the table in front of the dance floor.” All three of us turned to look. Sure enough, directly in front of the dance floor stood a high top table containing a group of four guys. “Did you see that? One of them just waved at us. Let’s go check them out,” Becki suggested.

BOOK: Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4)
3.18Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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