The Last Call (MMG Book 5)

by Hilliard, R. B.

  “I’m fucking getting married, man.” God, it felt so damn good to say that.

  “What?” His confused tone made me smile.

  “I’m taking Sarah to Vegas and won’t be back until Sunday. Nothing is happening with Garrison until Monday, Max won’t hear back from the labs until next week, none of my jobs are pressing right now, and I’m fucking getting married.”

  “Does Max know?”

  “Yes, Max knows.”

  “Well, then best wishes. I guess I’ll see you Monday,” Garrett replied.

  “Thanks,” I said, and hung up. Now all I had to do was find my missing fiancée. Hopefully she was at the house.

  I spotted Sarah’s car sitting in front of our place as I pulled onto our street. Relief and anxiety washed over me. Am I making a mistake? I thought about the pained look on her face every time her brother intervened, and thought, fuck it. If she doesn’t want to go to Vegas, we won’t. I threw the truck in park and headed for the front door.

  “Sarah!” I called out.

  “In the kitchen!” she responded. I found her propped against the island, drinking a cup of coffee. My girl looked defeated, and suddenly I was angry. When did I lose complete control of the situation? Better yet, why did I let it get so bad? She took one look at my face and said, “I’m sorry I dodged your calls. I just…uh…needed a moment to think.”

  “I need you to pack a bag,” I responded.

  Her blue eyes widened with surprise. “Pack a bag?” she whispered. “But, can’t we at least talk about it?”

  It took me a minute to register her odd reaction. She thinks I’m kicking her out. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk on the plane. Right now, we need to pack if we want to make the flight that leaves at four,” I told her. Then I turned on my heel and headed down the hall to our bedroom. I smiled when she let out a squeak of surprise.

  “Flight? What flight?” she asked as she trailed down the hall after me.

  “Our flight to Vegas,” I answered from the closet, where I retrieved both suitcases.

  “We’re going to Vegas?” Excitement colored her voice and I knew I’d made the right decision.

  “You better hurry and pack before your brother changes his mind and forces us to endure the wedding from hell.”

  The realization of my words hit home and her face split into a breathtaking smile. And just like that, my girl was back. “Oh My God,” she breathed. “We’re getting married?”

  I stared deep into her beautiful blue eyes, and smiled. “We’re getting married. Now hurry and pack.”

  * * *

  Seven hours later…

  “I can’t believe we’re here,” Sarah whispered.

  On the way to the airport, my travel agent texted and said she was able to get the suite for us at Bellagio. Before Max had taken over our lives, Sarah mentioned wanting to get married outside, preferably in a garden. I wasn’t sure how, but I was going to make that happen for her. I thought back to my first wedding and how different the circumstances were. I dreaded walking down that aisle the first time. Now, I couldn’t get there fast enough. Life was funny. I was more or less running from my past when I moved to Charlotte. The last thing I ever expected to find was my future.

  As planned, our driver met us at the baggage claim and delivered us safely to the hotel. Sarah’s eyes lit up when we stepped into the lobby. I had to admit, the vibrantly colored glass ceiling and the mosaic and stone tile floors were a lot to take in. I’d stayed at Bellagio several times before, but there was something special about seeing it through Sarah’s eyes.

  “It’s beautiful. In a weird way it reminds me of parts of Europe.” The awe in her voice made me smile.

  “Wait until you see our room,” I told her.

  “I’m so going to get you naked,” she whispered. My dick liked the sound of that, but I’d finagled dinner reservations through a business connection, and we had half an hour before we needed to leave. Sadly, sex would have to wait until later.

  “Food and lively discussion, first, followed by –” I waited for the elevator to close, before pushing her up against the wall of mirrors and finishing my sentence, “me touching every part of your body.” I swallowed her gasp with my lips and leaned in to press my hard cock against the front of her sweet little body. “The lickage will be followed by me getting so deep inside of you you’ll never be able to shake me loose again.”

  “Hmmm, is lickage even a word?” she teased.

  I gave her a quick kiss and pulled back as the elevator opened on our floor. “It is now” I answered, and, taking her hand in mine, I escorted her down the hall and into our suite.

  * * *

  Sarah

  I was on cloud fifty. The visit from Cas’s mother shook me to my core. How someone so evil gave birth to the man I was planning on spending the rest of my life with was beyond me. I was having doubts for the first time since Cas’s proposal. Instead of facing him like a big girl, though, I panicked and ran. That night, as I lay my head on the hard-as-shit pillow at MMG, I was overcome with shame and guilt. I shouldn’t have run. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, my mind decided to take a trip down memory lane to the one place I normally avoided at all costs, my dad. Malcolm McLellan was the personification of evil, but, somehow, Max and I ended up just fine. Actually, we were better than fine. And so is Cas. Regardless of having the world’s shittiest parents, the three of us had managed to slip the evil taint of our parents.

  The next morning I woke with an entirely new outlook. If Max and Cas wanted to give me the wedding of a lifetime, I was going to graciously accept it with zero resentment and no complaints, but first I had to find my fiancé and beg his forgiveness.

  Cas wasn’t home when I got there, so I decided to take a shower and grab a quick cup of coffee before heading over to LASH. When Cas walked into the kitchen, I was caught by surprise. When he told me to pack a bag before I could fully apologize, my surprise turned to shock, followed by hurt. I expected him to be angry, but to kick me out? Oh, hell no! I started to argue, but he shut me down with the biggest surprise of all. Vegas!

  As I impatiently waited for Cas to insert the key in the hotel room door, all I could think about was sex. I could tell by the bulge in his jeans that he wanted me, and I really, really wanted him, so why was he denying us what we both wanted? Surely we can finagle a quickie or two before dinner? He ushered me through the door and I froze on the spot. Hotel room, my arse. A large marble entry made way into an expansive carpeted living and dining room. To the right sat a full kitchen with what looked like granite countertops. To the left was a hallway leading to what I assumed was a bedroom, or four. The back wall to the living/dining room was made up entirely of windows as well as a huge balcony that looked out onto several swimming pools. “Holy shit, Killer, you’ve really outdone yourself,” I breathed.

  “We’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the view this weekend. Our dinner reservation is in half an hour.” After slapping me on the ass, Cas disappeared down the hall with his suitcase in tow. With a loud sigh, I followed after.

  Dinner was absolutely amazing. My husband-to-be pulled out all the stops. Not only did he take me to a five star restaurant, but we sat at the chef’s table, which was something I’d always wanted to do. Once dinner was over, I was ready to go. Instead of paying our check, however, Cas ordered enough dessert for an army and a pot of coffee. Then he excused himself from the table and headed for the bathroom. That’s when I knew something was wrong. The entire time he was gone, my mind spun. The only thing I could come up with was that somehow, his evil mother had gotten to him. There was no way in hell I was going to lose him to that lying cow of a woman.

  Once he returned to his seat, I decided not to prolong the inevitable. “You don’t want to marry me do you?” Cas’s eyes jerked to mine and he laughed. I kid you not, the arsehole laughed!

  “You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” he said through his laughter. I was confused.

  “Then can we
please skip all of this and go back to the hotel room?”

  The waitress arrived with the desserts. Cas waited for her to set them on the table. Once she was gone, he said, “I’m not sure if you know this, but your brother planned a damn impressive event.”

  “And?” I asked.

  “And I want to make sure you’re not disappointed …by this.” He swept his hand over the vast array of sweets.

  “First of all, this,” I pointed to the table, “is ridiculous.” The scowl on his face made me laugh. Cas thought I was forgoing the wedding of my dreams for him. The poor man had no clue. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell?” His lips twitched with repressed humor, and my heart melted. God, how I loved this man. “The only reason I agreed to the whole church wedding extravaganza is because when Max suggested it, you seemed excited about it.” His eyes flared with surprise and I held up two fingers. “Scouts honor.”

  “I wanted you to have the wedding of your dreams,” he grumbled.

  As I took his hand in mine and threaded our fingers together, I looked into his beautiful blue eyes and smiled. “This is better than my dreams,” I told him. With a tug of his hand, he pulled me in and dropped a scorching hot kiss on my lips. Clearly, it was time to go. While we waited for the waitress to reappear, I snagged a chocolate from one of the plates and popped it into my mouth. “Oh, God, we must take those back with us,” I moaned.

  “Check please!” Cas loudly called out, and we both laughed. When the waitress appeared with our check, he asked her to box up everything chocolate on the table.

  On our stroll back to the hotel, we stopped to take in Bellagio’s famous water show. By the time we got back to our room the chocolate was melted. Of course, this didn’t stop Cas from smearing it all over my body and licking it off…very, very slowly. After a night away from him, a surprise trip to Vegas, the hot-as-hell ride up in the elevator, followed by the romantic dinner, I was out of patience and horny as hell.

  “Cas, please,” I whined as he slowly licked his way up my thigh for the third time.

  “This is some damn good chocolate mousse,” he murmured between licks.

  “Let me taste.” I reached for the plastic container filled with the chocolatey goodness, but before I could get my hands on it he pushed it out of my reach.

  “Nuh-uh-uh,” he chastised. As I banged my head against the carpeted floor, I let out a growl of frustration. Why did I have to say anything about the damn chocolate? Why? “Is somebody getting frustrated?” he teased.

  “Somebody would like to get laid in this century,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, you mean you want this?” He pointed to his gorgeously hard cock, and I let out another groan of frustration. A contemplative look appeared on his face. “I’ll give you what you need, but only if you give me something in return.” I wasn’t aware we were bargaining, but I had to admit I was intrigued.

  “Okay, I’ll bite,” I told him.

  He licked the last bit of chocolate from my thigh before crawling up my body. Straddling my hips with his legs, he placed his hands on either side of my head and lowered his upper body down to where it hovered inches away from mine. Looking me dead in the eyes, he said, “From this point forward, if you have a problem with me, you talk to me. You are mine, Sarah, and our personal shit is ours. No more running to your brother, okay?” I didn’t run to my brother. In fact, my brother wasn’t even there, but I could tell by Cas’s expression that I’d be a fool to argue.

  “Okay.” I nodded my head in agreement.

  “Okay?” he asked. Clearly he was surprised by my lack of argument. I opened my mouth to say more, but before I could get it out, he slid inside me.

  “Yesssssss,” I hissed as he pulled out and slammed back in.

  “You’re mine, Sarah,” he said between thrusts.

  “Yes,” I panted.

  “For always,” he growled. His possessiveness was such a turn on.

  “Yes,” I groaned as my orgasm stretched its tingly tentacles up and down my spine.

  “No more running,” he commanded.

  “I’m there, Cas,” I gasped. He slowed his thrusts and I hissed in frustration.

  “Tell me you won’t run again, Sarah.”

  “I won’t run!” I shouted. With a satisfied gleam in his eyes, he picked the pace back up, and within minutes we both exploded. Cas may be an alpha arse munch, but he was mine and after tomorrow, I would be his for always.

  The next morning we had breakfast in our suite and then Cas took me wedding dress shopping. I settled on a simple, sleeveless gown. The bodice was fitted and covered with tiny white beads and the skirt hugged my hips, yet danced around my legs whenever I moved. I loved its elegant simplicity. Surprisingly, Cas went traditional with a simple black tuxedo. After a light lunch, he shipped me off to the pool while he did some work in our rooms.

  That night we dined on the patio of an Italian restaurant. The food was amazing. After dinner, we walked the strip and laughed at all of the crazy people. I even took a picture with a Chewbacca look alike. That night Cas refused to have sex with me. He said it would jinx the rest of our marriage. After a few half-hearted attempts at seduction, I gave in and watched a movie that starred some weirdo with a unitard fetish. As usual, I fell asleep in the middle of it.

  Our wedding morning started with breakfast in bed, which was followed by a half day of pampering at the spa. Cas wouldn’t say what he was doing, but I’m pretty sure it started with a W and ended with a K. Max, Ellie, Piper, and Joss all called to congratulate me, and each gave me nuggets of wisdom. Ellie told me to take the obey part with a grain of salt, while Joss suggested I skip the line altogether. Piper told me that my job was to keep Cas in line, while his was to make me happy in bed. When Max made reference to walking me down the aisle, I teared up. I was so caught up with my own thoughts I’d failed to think about his feelings on the matter.

  As it turned out, I didn’t need someone to walk me down the aisle, because there was no aisle. Cas and I got married in the middle of the most beautiful outdoor garden I’d ever seen. Everywhere I looked I saw swaths of color. Vibrantly colored Azaleas were interspersed with greenery in the form of bushes, trees and grasses. All of which surrounded a beautiful three tiered fountain. The officiant brought his wife along to witness the ceremony. There was also a photographer and a woman playing a stringed instrument of sorts. The ceremony was absolutely perfect. Yes, I missed Max and our friends, but this was everything I’d ever dreamt of and more. Directly after we said our vows, the small group wished us well and took off. Cas led me across the garden to a gazebo of sorts. At least, from the outside it looked like a gazebo. On the inside it was…magical. Silver and gold candles illuminated the room. In the middle sat a table and two chairs. The table was decorated in silvers and golds to match the candles. A waiter appeared out of thin air and handed us both a glass of champagne.

  “Cas, this is beautiful.”

  “Not anywhere near as beautiful as you are.” His face split into a sexy smile. “Mrs. Ashford, you are now officially my bitch.” The waiter’s eyes bulged, and I tried not to laugh.

  “How I’ve longed for this day,” I responded with a dramatic sigh. A small giggle escaped as Cas took me by the hand and led me to our first meal as husband and wife.

  That night my husband worshipped my body. Never, in my whole life, had I ever felt so loved.

  The next morning was a bit of a rush. It slipped our minds to set an alarm, so we barely had time for coffee before our driver arrived to take us to the airport. Cas helped me pick out a nice bottle of whisky to take to Max as a thank you. The moment the plane took off I fell asleep and remained that way for the duration of the flight.

  In the car on the way back to the house, Cas informed me that he had to run a quick errand with Bobby. He dropped me off with our luggage and a kiss and told me he’d see me later. We’d planned on going to Max and Ellie’s together, but since he had to work, I decided to go
by myself. If he was done early, he could meet me over there afterwards. Like a good little wife, I shot him a quick text to tell him where I was going. Then I grabbed my purse and the bottle of booze and headed to my brother’s. I couldn’t wait to tell Ellie about the wedding.

  Both Max’s truck and Ellie’s SUV were sitting in the driveway when I arrived. I floated on my happy cloud to the front door and, in my usual sisterly fashion, walked right in. I immediately spotted Max. “I brought you a present,” I happily sang. Max turned, and it took me a moment to register that I wasn’t looking at Max, but at a much younger version of my brother. The bottle slipped from my hands and bounced across the carpeted floor. “Who in the hell are you?” I whispered.

  Max appeared out of nowhere, and, after muttering a few choice curse words, said, “Sarah, this is Cole. I’m pretty sure he’s our half-brother.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Piper and Gage

  ‡

  Piper

  Friday morning I woke up in a cold, lonely bed. Two nights away from Gage and I felt as if I was dying inside. Over the past few days, I’d discovered a few things about myself. I was ridiculously hard headed and I was completely freaked out about having children. After weeks of frustration, Gage and I were finally making progress and what did I do? I royally screwed it up. Our conversation played over and over in my head.

  “We need to talk about this.”

  “I’m not so sure we do, Princess. We went into this marriage wanting the same things. Now we don’t. What else is there to say?”

  “I love you.”

  “Yeah, well sometimes love isn’t enough.”

  Ellie was right when she said I needed to pull my head out of my ass. As I stared out the bedroom window onto the backyard, I thought about the day Gage and I moved into our house.