Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4)

by Hilliard, R. B.

  Bobby, Tut and Max were standing by the kitchen door talking. I needed to play it cool with Max, so I headed over to talk to them first. After ten minutes of shooting the shit about Adam coming on board at LASH, I excused myself and stepped inside to get a beer. The women were in the kitchen laughing and carrying on, but Sarah was not with them. What if she decided not to show? For a second I was paralyzed with worry. She said she’d be here so she’ll be here, I scolded myself.

  I spent a few minutes making small talk with the ladies before grabbing my beer and stepping back outside. Sarah stood across the patio talking to Sally and Dillon. I instantly relaxed when I saw her. That is, until I got an eyeful of her short shorts and revealingly tight tank top. Then I wanted to strangle her. As she bent down to pet Isabella’s dog, Brutus, Tut and Twon stared at her ass. Fuckers. Trying not to lose my cool, I made my way over to her.

  “Nice job with Adam,” Sally said, as I approached them.

  “He will be a great asset to the group, as will you, if you ever finish training,” I teased.

  “Does this training include carrying a gun?” Sarah asked Sally.

  “I carry a gun when I’m on the job,” I told her.

  She scrunched her cute little nose up and I wanted to kiss it. “I completely trust you with a firearm. It’s her I’m worried about,” she nodded her head at Sally.

  “Hardy har har,” Sally chided. Sarah’s burst of laughter made me smile. “I’m going to grab a beer and talk to Bobby and Tut,” Sally said, and walked away.

  Finally, I had Sarah to myself. Strategically maneuvering us around so our backs were facing the crowd, I leaned over and whispered, “I should spank your pretty little ass for running.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call it running,” she quietly replied.

  “No? What would you call it then?”

  “Regrouping.”

  I looked down at the same time she peered up and we both smiled. “You are a beautiful pain in my ass,” I told her.

  Her eyes widened in surprise and then crinkled in amusement. “Ditto,” she whispered back.

  While the time to tell her about Alexandria was here, I was at a loss for words. I didn’t want this to be the last time we spoke. Not really sure what to say, I just started talking. “My life was hell when I met you. It still is in a lot of ways, but being with you…near you, has made it better. You make me laugh, which is something I haven’t done in a very long time. I tried to keep things simple between us, but I can’t. Hell, I don’t even want to anymore.”

  “Okaaaay, in a weird way, I kind of understand you, at least the part about making it better because you do the same for me. As for keeping it simple, it was never simple between us, Cas. You do realize that, don’t you?” She did that cute scrunchy thing with her nose again, which made me laugh.

  “You have me there,” I admitted. My fingers ached to touch her, but I couldn’t, at least not until I told her about Alexandria and Kalen. Taylor Swift serenaded us with her song about James Dean day dreams as we both stared across the valley below us lost in our own thoughts. I wondered how in the hell I could make her understand. “I can’t move forward with you until I tell you about my past.”

  “Do you want to move forward…with me?” she hesitantly asked. Hope shone from her brilliant blue eyes as she stared up at me and I couldn’t resist giving her a quick peck on the lips.

  I pulled back long enough to tell her how I felt. “God, Sarah, you have no idea. I want everything with you. I’m so fucking in lo-”

  “Caswell?” a voice called out from behind us.

  My confession of love shriveled to ash on my tongue the second I heard her voice. I looked into Sarah’s trusting blue eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” I heard Bobby say.

  “Caswell, there you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” I turned to see if I was imagining things and sadly discovered I was not. Alexandria stormed her way across the patio towards us in a low cut cocktail dress and obscenely high heels.

  For fuck’s sake, why now?

  Alexandria was almost to us when Sarah quietly asked, “Who is she?”

  Alexandria honed in on Sarah and exclaimed, “Oh, how rude of me!” She held out her hand. “I’m Alexandria Ashford, Caswell’s wife.” Her announcement brought everything to a screeching halt.

  “What did she just say?” I heard Sally ask, but all I could see was the look of shock and hurt on Sarah’s face.

  “Sarah-” I started to explain. She took off running before I could get the rest of the words out. “Sarah, wait!” I shouted, as I started after her, but she had already rounded the building.

  Alexandria grabbed my shirt sleeve, “If you leave me standing here to go after her, I will talk, Caswell. Trust me, you do not want that,” she hissed. I turned and glared at her. What was she doing here in Charlotte? Why wasn’t she with her dad in Wilmington? Why the hell did she have to show up now?

  “What the hell are you doing here, Alexandria?” I barely managed to get out.

  Her eyes angrily narrowed in on me, but all everyone else saw was the huge smile on her face. Manipulative bitch. “I’m here to be with you, silly,” she loudly replied.

  The hell you are.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sarah

  ‡

  I was horrified. Cas has a wife! Oh my God! He has a bloody wife! The look on Cas’s face when his wife introduced herself to me would have been comical if it wasn’t so damn awful. Over and over it played through my head and I wanted to scream.

  “Sarah, wait!” Sally shouted. I didn’t want to talk to her. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Finally catching up to me, Sally grabbed my arm. “Damn you run fast,” she panted. All it took was one look of pity from her and I burst into tears. “Oh, hon, I’m so damn sorry,” she whispered.

  It wasn’t Sally’s fault I’d fallen in love with a married man. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine. God, I was such a fool. “Did you see his face?” I sobbed.

  “Cas is a fucking idiot, Sarah.”

  “He tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen. If I’d known what he was hiding, I never…”

  “Here comes your brother, pull it together,” she quietly warned.

  I quickly wiped the tears away and turned to face my brother, who was storming across the parking lot towards me with a worried looking Ellie in tow.

  “What the fuck just happened back there?” Max asked. I could see he was barely keeping his cool. He wasn’t the only one. I could feel the tears bubbling up again and I tried to swallow them down before they spilled out.

  “Nothing happened. I’m okay,” I managed to say.

  Ellie wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered in my ear and I lost it.

  “Either you tell me what the hell is going on right now, Sarah Ann McLellan, or I am going back and kicking Cas’s fucking ass all over the place,” Max warned.

  “Max,” Ellie hissed.

  I pulled back from Ellie and frantically wiped the tears. “No, Max, leave him alone,” I sniffled.

  “Then start talking,” he commanded.

  After a few tries, I finally pulled it together enough to semi-explain. “I fell in love with him, even when he told me not to. I knew he couldn’t give me a relationship, but I did it anyway.”

  He gave me a skeptical look. “Who is that woman?”

  “His wife,” I choked out with a fresh bout of tears.

  Both he and Ellie shouted, “What?” Before I could respond, Max was marching back toward the garage and Cas.

  “Max, no!” I shouted.

  He stopped mid-stride and turned to face me. “Did you sleep with him?”

  Ellie made a groaning noise under her breath. I didn’t know what to tell him. If he knew Cas and I slept together, he would kill him. I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to cause an irreparable rift between the two of them, either. I stared down at my feet and contemplate
d what to say.

  Please don’t let this come back to bite me in the arse.

  Lifting my head, I stared into my big brother’s eyes and told the second biggest lie of my life. The first was when I swore up and down our father never laid a hand on me. Sometimes you had to lie. Not to save yourself, but to save the other person. This was one of those times.

  “It never went that far,” I told him.

  The look of relief on his face made me break down all over again. This time it wasn’t Ellie’s arms that held me as I cried. It was Max’s.

  I was worried Cas and his wife would show up before I could get away. I did not want to see him, not with her, maybe not ever again. Max would know I was lying if I had to face Cas right now. It took a lot of convincing, but finally Max agreed to let me leave with Sally and promised he wouldn’t kill Cas after I was gone.

  We were halfway back to our apartment when the severity of the situation sunk in. The whole time I had been with Cas, he had been tied to another woman. I slept with a married man. All kinds of words came to mind, but the one that stuck was homewrecker. I thought back to the nights in his apartment. Surely there would have been signs, right? Wrong. There were no pictures. Hell, I had been in his closet. Where were her clothes? Nothing made sense. Cas had warned me time and time again. He tried to talk to me the night of the wedding. Did I listen? No, I held him off, slept with him and then ran. If I hadn’t run, he would have told me he was married. It would have hurt, but at least I would have known. He was about to tell me he loved me tonight. Does he love her too? Where has she been? Why haven’t they been together? Question after question ping-ponged through my brain. None of them had any answers.

  As soon as we walked through the door, Sally whipped out a bottle of Jack Daniels and offered me a drink. I was tempted, but knew it wouldn’t solve anything. What I needed was to be alone with my thoughts. Something wasn’t right and I needed to sort it in my head. What I needed was to talk to Cas, but I wasn’t ready for that just yet.

  After explaining this to Sally, I escaped to my room to get ready for bed. As I brushed my teeth, I ran over everything in my head and wondered how I missed this. He has a wife, for God’s sake. When my phone dinged with a text message, I knew it was Cas. I debated whether or not to read it. Fuck it, who the hell was I trying to kid? I wanted answers. Grabbing my phone from the bedside table, I flipped on my light and read.

  I am sorry. All I ask for is a chance to explain. Please?

  The tears welled and I fought the urge to throw my phone against the wall. You have a wife! I screamed in my head. Everything was a lie. I choked on my tears. No wonder he wanted to keep it simple. I decided not to text him back. What was there to say? I turned off my phone, curled up in my bed and cried myself to sleep.

  The next morning I woke to someone banging on my door.

  “Go away!” I shouted.

  “Max is trying to reach you. Turn on your phone!” Sally grumpily shouted through the door. I glanced over at the clock and groaned. Why in the world is Max calling me at seven in the morning? Something told me it had to do with last night and Cas. “Acknowledge I have spoken or I am coming in. Trust me, you do not want that to happen,” Sally warned.

  “I hear you!” I shouted.

  “There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” she muttered.

  I scowled at the door and snagged my phone from the nightstand. Once I powered it on I saw I had four missed calls and three text messages. I started with the phone calls. The first was from Ellie wanting to know I made it home safely and was okay. The second was from Piper, telling me she would kick Cas’s arse for me if I wanted. I had to smile because I knew she was serious. The third was from Cas. It took me a minute to process what he was saying through the tears. He wanted to talk to me. He wanted to explain. Things weren’t as they seemed. Then what are they? Was he married? Yes. Did he sleep with me while he was married? Yes. Things were exactly as they seemed. The final message was from Max. It was simple and to the point.

  “I’m coming to pick you up at eight-thirty. You’re training at MMG today.”

  Damnit, Max!

  Max wanted me to work for him. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. He’d been bugging me for weeks about it. I tried to call him back to discuss it with him, but of course he didn’t answer. The clock said twelve after seven. If I was going to be ready in time, I needed to get a move on.

  I had no clue what MMG employees were required to wear, so I settled on a pair of Levi’s and a solid black t-shirt. I rubbed anti-frizz cream into my wet hair and decided to let it dry on its own. Max would have to deal if he didn’t like it. After a light application of powder, blush and mascara, I glossed my lips and headed to the kitchen for some coffee. Sally was waiting with a smile on her face and an evil gleam in her eye.

  “Here, let me get it for you,” she offered.

  “Whatever you are selling, I’m not buying it,” I told her.

  She poured me a cup and, as she handed it to me, she innocently asked, “What?”

  With a snort, I stepped around her, opened the fridge and pulled out the creamer. After splashing some in my cup, I returned it to the fridge and closed the door. Then I turned to ask her why she was being so creepy and ran smack into her. Hot coffee splashed over the two of us.

  “What is wrong with you?” I shouted.

  “Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you.” She handed me a dishtowel so I could wipe the coffee off the front of my shirt.

  “Then talk, but stop being a creeper.” The thing I both loved and hated about Sally was her ability to be blunt and honest. No matter the situation, Sally told it like it was.

  “Fine, I spoke to Bobby last night. You need to talk to Cas. The wife thing is fucked six ways to Sunday. You need to give him a chance to explain.”

  “You talked to Bobby?”

  “Yes, I called him after you fell asleep.”

  “How did you know I was asleep?”

  She nervously shuffled her feet from side to side. “Well, when I couldn’t hear you crying anymore, I got worried and checked on you and you were out. Then I started thinking about how strange the whole encounter was between Cas and his wife. I mean, I’ve been around people who love each other and people who hate each other. From the expression I saw on Cas’s face, there is no love between him and that woman. So, I called Bobby and asked.”

  I couldn’t decide if I was happy or irritated she stuck her nose in my business. I guess it didn’t really matter because I was still going to ask. “And?”

  She shrugged. “You need to talk to Cas.”

  “That’s it? That’s all you have to tell me?” This was not enough information. I needed more.

  “That’s all Bobby would say. If it helps, I agree with him. You can’t make an informed decision until you hear what Cas has to tell you.” Right as she finished her sentence, a car honked outside. Sally slid past me and opened the front door. “Oh look, your chariot awaits,” she dramatically announced. With a huff, I yanked my purse over my shoulder and stormed past her. “Have a nice day!” she shouted. I shot her a bird and climbed into Max’s truck.

  “What was that about?” Max asked.

  “Nothing,” I answered.

  “It didn’t look like nothing.”

  “Well, it was,” I snapped. “And, thanks for answering your phone when I tried to call you back this morning.”

  He smiled. “You’re welcome.” I shot him a dirty look and turned to stare out the window. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke. “Look, I’ve been thinking. Last night is the second time I have seen you cry over something having to do with Cas Ashford.” My eyes shot to his. I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but I was afraid it wasn’t anywhere good. I waited for him to glance back at the road before looking away. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Because you can, you know. I mean, I want you to know you can always talk to me about anything.” He was nervous. I found this both cute and endearing. “Ellis
on thinks I’m too hard on you. I don’t mean to be. I just want the best for you and I’m worried I’m not giving it to you.” My eyes teared up. “I just want you to know you don’t have to hide things from me anymore.”

  Guilt tore through me. If you only knew. Swallowing back the tears, I steeled my features and lifted my eyes to his. His concerned expression made me sick inside. I didn’t want him to worry about me. I just wanted him to be happy.

  “Okay, okay,” I dramatically sighed, “confession time. Remember when I told you Garrett’s girlfriend took your CD collection?” His eyes narrowed and a bubble of laughter slipped out. “I lied. It was me. I was angry with you for sending me away.”

  “You little shit. How did you get them out of the house without me seeing?”

  “Easy, you had to go to the office before taking me to the airport. While Matt was in the living room watching television and Andrea was loading my bags the car to be shipped, I grabbed a spare duffle, sipped into your room and emptied out your CD collection. Then I carried it down to Andrea and told her she forgot a bag.”

  “Matt said it was you, but when I called, you told me Garrett’s girlfriend had been in my room that morning.” He laughed. “You do realize Garrett dumped her because of that.”

  “I was counting on it.” We discussed Garrett’s hated ex-girlfriend the rest of the ride to MMG. My diversion worked and Max didn’t mention Cas or secrets again.

  The rest of the day I spent trying to learn my new job. Max and Gage wanted me to answer the phones, take the orders and place each order into its proper file. Max said we would figure out the rest as it came. At lunch, they had me order sandwiches from the deli down the street and Gage actually let me drive his precious jeep to pick them up. When I returned with the food, they had me meet with them in the conference room, where we discussed my salary. I nearly choked on my roast beef when they told me how much I would be making.

  “You’re joking,” I said through a mouthful of sandwich.

  “Nope,” Gage replied.

  “Trust me, you will earn every penny of it,” Max warned. “We need someone here who will do what we ask, when we ask, without any questions.”