The Last Call (MMG Book 5)

by Hilliard, R. B.

  When Harry told me to call him, I wanted to…God, how I wanted to, but I didn’t call him. If it had been any other guy, I would have, but not Harry. Harry made me feel things. He made me want to give up my rules and throw caution to the wind. Harry didn’t want to change me. He simply wanted to be with me. For any other girl, this would be enough. Why couldn’t I be like other girls?

  * * *

  Three days later…

  I was at the end of my rope. For nine days I’d stayed away. I’d found reason after reason not to call. I’d binged on chocolate and popcorn while watching movies, picked up extra shifts at Dragonfly, and had numerous facials. None of this had made a damn bit of difference. I missed Harry.

  On the tenth morning, I finally said, “Fuck it.” This time, when I picked up my phone and scrolled to his number, I hit send. Harry answered on the fourth ring.

  “Hi, Harry. It’s Polly.”

  “I was wondering if you were going to call.” I could hear the smile in his voice. That was the great thing about Harry, he always saw the good in everything, and he always found a reason to smile.

  “I – uh – was wondering if you’d like to get together tonight.” I gave myself a mental head slap for stammering over my words like a silly girl.

  “I can’t, but – uh, hang on a moment, Polly.” I’d never heard Harry sound so formal. I could tell from the muffled voices that he’d placed his hand over the phone, so I wouldn’t hear the conversation, but I wasn’t stupid. I could tell that he was talking to a woman. And that’s when it hit me. Harry has a girlfriend. I gave myself another mental head slap. Of course he had a girlfriend. In a complete moment of panic, I hung up. “Stupid, stupid, Polly,” I tearfully chastised. I knew he would call back, so I left my phone at home and headed to work.

  By the time I reached Dragonfly, I was once again, calm, cool, and completely collected. I walked away from Harry, not the other way around. Harry had moved on with his life and I felt stupid. I should have considered that possibility before I threw myself at him.

  “Hey, girl, what’s up?” Piper called out as I passed by the bar. I loved it when Piper was bartending. We always had so much fun together.

  I held up my bag and said, “Be right back.”

  I stepped back onto the floor right as Kurt was walking through the front door. “Are you prepped and ready to go?” he asked Piper.

  “Other than a few last minute things, I am,” she replied.

  “Polly, get Macy to take over your prep, and both of you meet me in the office in five.”

  Once he was out of earshot, I asked Piper if she knew what was up.

  “You’ll see,” she sang.

  Five minutes later, we both stepped into the office. The moment the door closed behind us, Kurt dove straight into the conversation.

  “Dillon and I have decided to open another bar. We haven’t settled on the location, yet, but once we do, we’ll need to spend most of our time getting it off the ground. The only way we can do that, is if we find someone to manage Dragonfly for us.” He looked at me when he said this.

  “Me?” I squeaked. “I know nothing about managing a bar.”

  “Both of you,” he clarified. My eyes shot to Piper and she smiled.

  “Gage and I are eventually going to start squeezing out kids, but until then, I will teach you everything I know. That way, when I’m gone, you’ll be perfectly comfortable with taking over,” she explained. I had no idea what to say to this.

  “You are the perfect person for this, Polly,” Kurt added. “Not only will the management position mean more responsibility, but it will also mean more hours, and more money.”

  “C’mon, Polls, we will have so much fun together,” Piper coaxed.

  “Well, shit,” I sighed.

  “Is that a yes?” Kurt asked.

  “I’ll give it a try,” I told them.

  “Yesssss, hand it over sucka,” Piper told Kurt. With a dramatic eye roll, Kurt dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I bet him you would say yes before we left the office. He thought it would take a few days. I-I-I wooooon,” Piper sang. Kurt scowled as he handed her a twenty. Piper danced out of the room, but I held back.

  “I know you have reservations, but we’ll work through them,” Kurt reassured.

  “If Piper will teach me, then I think I’ll be okay. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Have you talked to Harry lately?”

  “Yeah, I talked to him the other day, why?”

  “Oh, uh, did he tell you he stopped in last weekend?”

  Kurt shook his head. “He didn’t mention it. Why?” he asked, again.

  “He really saved my ass. Uhhh, do you know if he’s seeing anyone?”

  “Yes.” He smiled, and my heart dropped. “You know, there’s a word for what you’re feeling, Polls.” I was afraid to ask, but, of course, he told me anyway. “It’s called regret.”

  I rolled my eyes and walked out of his office. His laughter followed me out the door.

  As I made my way to the bar I blinked back the tears. Karma was such a fucking bitch sometimes.

  * * *

  Harry

  Fuck! After ten days of waiting, she finally calls, only to hang up on me! I called back two more times, and each time got her voicemail.

  “Dammit, Polly,” I hissed.

  One of the execs stuck their heads out of the office and said, “We’re ready for you.”

  Two hours later, the deal was done. I was the sole owner of the record label, BlackInk. Instead of celebrating with the deal team, I thanked them for all of their hard work and told them I’d be in touch. Then I hauled ass back to the hotel and packed my bag. On the way to the airport, I tried Polly again. This time I left her a voicemail.

  “It’s Harry. I’m not sure why you hung up on me earlier, but I’m calling you back. Call me.” I hung up and stared out the car window. Why did she hang up on me? Was she just fucking with me? The more I thought about it the angrier I got. By the time my plane landed in Charlotte, I’d made a decision. No more chasing after Polly Henry. Max, Kurt, and Benny were right. Life was too short. I had better things to do with my days than to play bullshit games with some chick who clearly had commitment issues.

  * * *

  Two days later…

  “Fuck, man. Your place smells like stale beer and foot odor. You seriously need to find you a woman to clean up after your rank ass.”

  “I’m telling Joss you said that,” I muttered from under my covers.

  “Josselyn loves cleaning up after me. It makes her feel fulfilled,” he mused. I opened my mouth to call bullshit, when I noticed he was holding two cups of coffee. He shook his head as I waved him over. “Hell, no,” he said, before walking out of the room. Fucker. After throwing on a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt, I followed after. When I saw the bagels sitting on the table, my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten a thing in two days.

  I was deep into my second bagel when Kurt asked about my trip.

  “I got it,” I told him.

  He shot me a look of surprise. “You got the label? That’s great! Wait. If you got the label, then why aren’t we celebrating?” I didn’t really feel like celebrating, and I certainly didn’t want to talk about Polly, so I just shrugged and continues eating my bagel. “Awww, don’t tell me it has to do with Polly again. She asked about you the other night, and I shut that shit down.” He did what? I jerked my eyes from the food to his smug face. Kurt knew I was crazy about Polly.

  “What shit did you shut down?” I tried to keep my voice steady.

  “She just asked if I’d talked to you lately and if you were seeing anyone,” he nonchalantly replied. My pulse raced.

  “And?” I asked.

  “Aaaaaand, I might have told her that you were.”

  I shot up from my seat. “You did what?” I growled.

  “Look, you know I love Polly, but she fucked up when she broke it off
with you. She told Piper you lacked ambition, and that all you wanted to do was smoke pot and eat fast food.”

  “She was right!” I shouted. “I was wasting my life away.”

  “You owned a multi-million dollar business. How is that not ambitious?” Kurt asked.

  “She didn’t know I owned jack shit because I didn’t tell her.”

  “You didn’t tell her because she never bothered to ask,” Kurt countered.

  “Why would she ask, Kurt? I was always available whenever she called. The one time she stopped by my apartment was the morning after I’d stayed up all night playing COD. I’d smoked a week’s worth of pot and had eaten three large pizzas. It didn’t help that my cleaning lady hadn’t come in over a month. After that surprise visit, we always met at her place. Do you blame her for not asking? Do you blame her for thinking I was an unambitious loser? Well, don’t, because I was!”

  Kurt threw up his hands in exasperation. “I’m sorry, man. Clearly, I fucked up.”

  “You’re damn right, you fucked up. Thanks to you she won’t answer my calls.”

  After taking a sip of his coffee, Kurt said, “Josselyn would know what to do. Want me to call her?” Before I could answer, he’d whipped out his phone and was already dialing her number. When she answered, he said, “Hang on. Let me put you on speaker.” Once the speaker was engaged, he said, “Hey, baby. I kind of fucked up and told Polly that Harry was seeing someone when he wasn’t, and now she won’t take his phone calls.”

  “You dumb ass! We’ve been waiting for those two to get back together for months now, Kurt. Piper bet me fifty dollars, and I want my money, dammit!” Joss screamed.

  “I told you to quit betting with Piper, Josselyn. Now, will you help us or not?” Kurt asked.

  “Of course I will. I want my damn fifty dollars. Let me think…Oh, and Hi, Harry. I’m sorry about my moronic husband.” Kurt flipped his phone the bird.

  “Hi, Joss. I’ll double your money if you’ll help me out,” I told her.

  “You’ve got yourself a deal. Does Polly know you moved?”

  I thought about it for a second, before answering, “She might have heard that from Piper, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know where I moved to.”

  A few months after Polly ended things, a condo in the same complex that Dillon and Cas lived in came up for sale. It was a much bigger space than I needed, but perfectly located, so I decided to go ahead and take it.

  “Piper’s closer to Polly than I am. I can have Piper call her and tell her we’re having a girl’s thing for Sarah – something to do with the wedding. Piper can give her your address, oh, and I’ll make sure she knows not to eat beforehand. Now, you need to do something nice, like have dinner waiting…and make sure you add in something romantic, like edible underwear. Chicks dig that shit. Kurt might have an extra pair.” I jerked my eyes to Kurt, who was staring slack jawed at the phone, and burst into laughter. “Just teasing, baby,” Joss laughed. “All kidding aside, nothing spells I-want-to-get-in-your-pants better than a romantic gesture of some kind.”

  Still laughing, I told her I could make that happen.

  Thirty minutes later, she called and said Polly would be arriving at seven that night.

  I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the apartment and the afternoon shopping for dinner. We were having grilled ribeye steaks, roasted asparagus, and baked potatoes, followed by chocolate mousse cake.

  My doorbell rang promptly at seven. I was so nervous my palms were sweating. It rang a second time, and I jumped. Get your shit together, Harry.

  After wiping my sweaty palms on my pants, I pulled open the door, and said, “I’m so happy you could make it.” The confused look on Polly’s face was so damn cute. I held open the door and ushered her inside.

  “Uh, I think there’s been a mistake,” she stammered.

  “Nope. No mistake,” I told her.

  “B-but Piper said–”

  “You hung up on me and wouldn’t answer my calls.” I tried not to sound all butt hurt about it, but dammit, I was. As she jerked her hands to her hips, her purse swung around and smacked into the entry hall console.

  “For your information, that’s because you let me throw myself at you like a two-bit hooker when you have a girlfriend.”

  I leaned forward, and smiled when she jerked back. “For your information, I don’t have a girlfriend,” I quietly said. A confused look appeared on her face and I clarified things for her. “Kurt was fucking with you.”

  She closed her eyes and sighed. “Of course he was.”

  “I’m not sure why you hung up on me the other night. One minute you were asking me if I wanted to hang out, and the next you were gone.”

  “You held your hand over the phone. I heard a woman’s voice.” She let out a loud huff. “I thought it was your girlfriend. Then Kurt, the giant butthead, confirmed it for me. God, I feel like such a dumb ass.”

  I looked down at her heels. “Those must be some bouncy shoes, because you sure as hell jumped to some big ass conclusions there, sweetheart.” The sound of her laughter made me smile. Her blonde curls danced as she craned her neck to see around the entryway. “How about you give me your coat and purse, and I’ll take you on a tour. After a moment’s hesitation, she stripped off her coat and handed me her purse. She was wearing a long, green dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. I wanted Polly Henry more than I’d ever wanted anything in my whole life, but this time I was going to do it right. After I hung up her coat, I returned to where she was standing. She looked so damn good, but also so vulnerable. “Shall we?” I asked, and held out my hand.

  “By all means,” she said, and placed her hand in mine.

  “Let’s start here. This is the living room.”

  “When did you buy this place?” she asked.

  “A few months after we stopped seeing each other. Off of the living room, as you can see, is the kitchen.”

  “I love how open it is.” Her eyes roamed over the ceiling before landing on me.

  I opened the door to my left, and said, “This is the half bath.” Then added, “Do you work this weekend?”

  “I like the wallpaper. No, they’re closing the bar so we can all go to Cas and Sarah’s party on Saturday night. Will you be there?”

  “I will. In fact, I’d like to take you, if you’ll let me. But first, would you like to see a band with me Friday night? They’re playing in Nashville, so we’d have to get an early flight back on Saturday morning.” We stopped in front of my bedroom door. “This is my bedroom,” I announced as I opened the door.

  “Good Lord, it’s huge!” she gasped. After taking in the room, she turned her gorgeous blues on me, and said, “You sure are full of surprises.”

  Talk about surprises. Wait until I tell her about the record label. “Is that a yes you’ll go to Nashville and the party with me?” I asked.

  “I’d like that very much,” she responded with a smile.

  “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

  She took my hand in hers, and said, “I thought you’d never ask.”

  As I led her toward the dining room, I asked her what she thought about edible underwear…

  Chapter Fourteen

  Max and Ellie

  ‡

  Ellie

  Max’s decision to keep Sarah in the dark about Cole completely backfired on him. My husband’s overbearing nature got the best of him once again, and this time I wasn’t sure he was going to be able to dig himself out. Sarah wanted to spread her wings and Max wanted to clip them. When he told me he’d given into Cas’s decision to marry Sarah in Vegas, I was elated for the couple and very proud of my husband. I knew how much this wedding meant to him. All of the good faith Max had just gained flew right out the window the moment Sarah set her eyes on Cole. She was beyond angry with him, and my refusal to take sides put me right smack in the middle, which is exactly where I didn’t want to be. The look on Cole’s face when Sarah unleashed on
Max was almost comical. The poor boy didn’t even know Max had a sister.

  As if the thing with Cole wasn’t drama enough, rumor had it that Max and Gage got arrested. For what, I hadn’t a clue. Did I find this out from my husband? No. I heard it from my dad’s skanky girlfriend whose best friend works at the police department. Max wasn’t answering his phone, Mac was acting like a monster because he was teething, I felt like shit, and my whole life was circling the drain.

  Mac opened his mouth and I shoveled vomitus looking mush inside while trying not to gag. I was so deep in my head that I didn’t hear Cole approach the table.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, honey. You can ask me anything.”

  “Are you dying?” The spoon flipped out of my hand and clattered across the floor. Mac immediately started crying.

  “I’ll get you a new one, buddy,” Cole told him. My mind raced as I watched him grab a clean spoon from the utensil drawer. He barely even looked at me when he handed me the spoon.

  “Look at me, honey.” He cautiously raised his eyes to mine. This boy, who reminded me so much of my husband, had been through so much. His eyes reflected heartache and loss, and I would do anything in my power to make it better. “Why would you ask me that? No, I’m not dying.”

  “B-b-but you’re sick all the time. My mom threw up all the time right before she died.” God, what could I say to this? I hadn’t even told Max about the pregnancy, and here I was contemplating telling his baby brother. This is what I get for being a giant chicken shit. The worried expression on his precious face made me want to cry. It also brought my mama bear instincts raging to the surface. Brother or not, Cole belonged to us.