Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4)

by Hilliard, R. B.

  “Ummm, can we please skip the head gear? I mean, no offense, but your bike is really cool. Me on the back of your bike wearing a wrestling helmet is not,” I confessed.

  A strange look appeared on his face right before he bent over and spit his coffee across the kitchen. I kid you not, coffee shot out of his nose and mouth as he burst into howls of laughter. After what seemed like forever, he pulled it together enough to tell me to go get changed. When I made it back to the kitchen, it was spotlessly clean and Sally was pouring herself a cup of coffee. In typical Sally fashion she had on a t-shirt that said, “Video Killed the Radio Star” and rainbow colored knee socks. She also appeared to be wearing a kilt. I thought about asking, but quickly changed my mind. Sally was not a happy morning person.

  “He’s outside,” she mumbled.

  “Thanks. Have a good day, dear,” I said, as I headed for the door.

  “Yeah, yeah, fuck you, too,” she replied, and I laughed.

  Sure enough, Gage was waiting on his bike. In his hand was a tiny pink thing that looked like a turtle shell. I skipped down the steps and asked, “What’s that?”

  “Your head gear,” he dryly replied.

  “Oh,” I mouthed, and he burst into laughter for the second time.

  Yep, I’m an idgit.

  The ride to MMG was amazing. The paperwork waiting on my desk was not. In fact, it was downright daunting. I was wondering where Max expected me to order hose pump thingy’s from when he walked through the door.

  “How am I expected to know where to order everything from if you don’t write it down?” I asked. When he failed to respond, I glanced up from the papers I was organizing and gasped. “What happened to your face?” Both of his eyes were purple and his nose was three sizes bigger than normal.

  “Nothing, I’m fine,” he nasally answered.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off his nose. “You don’t look fine.” I didn’t know a nose could get that big. Of course, I did not say this out loud.

  “Look, I’ve already heard it from Ellison. I don’t need it from you, too,” he grumped.

  “Tough, now tell me what happened?” I had a bad feeling I knew exactly what happened. Cas.

  “Stop talking to my nose,” he whined.

  “I wasn’t,” I told him, trying not to laugh. I so totally was. It was too hard not to. “Are you going to tell me what happened?” Instead of answering me, Max walked across the hall to his office and slammed the door in my face. “Fine, be that way, you big nosed baby! You are going to have to come out for your meeting this afternoon and I’ll be waiting!” I yelled after him. As usual, he ignored me. Stupid arsed man.

  I was so overwhelmed with paperwork and errands I didn’t get a spare second to myself, much less time to talk to Max. An hour before I could leave for the day, I was in the middle of placing a complicated order when Max stormed from his office and asked if I could get a ride home. Before I could answer, he was gone. So much for talking to him today.

  Sally came to get me and halfway home informed me we had to make a pit stop by LASH to pick up some papers. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled about this.

  “Take me home first,” I told her.

  “Relax. Bobby said Cas is staking out some old man who is supposedly cheating on his wife. He won’t even be there,” she promised.

  I relaxed back into the seat and sighed. I wasn’t ready to see Cas again so soon. Knowing me, I would take one look at him, burst into tears and confess my undying love. No, I needed to put some space between us in order to gain better perspective, or in my case, any perspective.

  As we pulled up in front of LASH, the front door opened and a woman stepped out. She had on a canary yellow dress with green floral heels. Her blonde hair was swept up in a fancy knot on top of her head. She looked as if she’d stepped straight off the set of Mad Men.

  “Jaysus,” Sally whispered, “Will you look at those babies?”

  I stared at her heels and wondered how in the world she walked in them. I did not do heels well, at all.

  “Seriously, if I had tits that big, I wouldn’t bother wearing the dress,” Sally’s awestruck voice made me realize I was looking in the wrong direction. My eyes shot to the front of the woman’s dress and my jaw dropped. Mad Men was instantly replaced with Penthouse. I mean, seriously? The woman’s dress barely covered her enormously large boobs. As she passed by the car I got a good look at her face and gasped.

  “Oh my God, that’s Cas’s wife!” I screeched. The second the words left my lips, her head turned in our direction and we both ducked. “Did she see us?” I whispered.

  “No. She looks pissed off, though,” Sally replied.

  “What is she doing here?”

  “I have no clue. Oh, I am so jealous. Not only does she have epic tits, the bitch is driving an M5.”

  “At least she has good taste in cars,” I rudely stated.

  “I’m following her.”

  “What? No!” I shouted.

  “Too late!” she shouted. As we peeled out of the parking lot and sped after Cas’s wife, Sally let out an evil cackle. I closed my eyes and held on for dear life.

  “This is a really bad idea,” I warned.

  With another maniacal laugh, Sally reached down and flipped on the boom box she’d rigged through her car speakers. My Chemical Romance’s, Na Na Na blared full blast at us and we both jumped in surprise. Then we looked at each other and busted into fits of laughter. My pulse pumped with adrenaline as we raced after Alexandria, while screaming the words to the song like two rat arsed lunatics. Finally, she slowed down and pulled onto a rather sketchy looking street.

  Sally flipped off the music and asked, “I thought she lived in Wilmington? Who the hell does she know on this side of town in Charlotte?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” I admitted.

  We slowed down long enough to see Alexandria turn into a driveway halfway down the street. Sally turned the next street over and slowly cut back up to the house we saw Alexandria park in front of. The house next door happened to have two large trees and several untrimmed bushes jutting halfway out into the street, which made for the perfect hiding place. Sally rolled up her window and pulled as close to the bushes as she could get. The foliage shielded us from being seen from the house, but still afforded us a perfect view of the front door and windows.

  “Roll your window down and see if you can hear anything,” Sally instructed.

  I rolled down my window and was immediately accosted by a woman’s shrieking voice.

  “Is that her?” I asked. I honestly couldn’t tell. The only time I’d heard Alexandria speak, she had a slow southern drawl. There was nothing slow or drawly about this woman’s voice.

  “Shhhh, listen,” Sally whispered as we both strained to hear what was being said.

  “I spent weeks in that fucking awful place, and for what? He won’t even let me through the door. He talked to me like I was white trash!” she screamed. Sally gave me an Oh-Shit expression, which I returned. I could make out the base notes of a man’s voice, but couldn’t hear what he was saying. “Nothing has gone as planned! Not one damn thing! I did everything he asked and he still didn’t give me the fucking money!” The man said something and she screamed, “Fuck Cas! I want my fucking money!” Suddenly, as if someone pushed the mute button on the television, they both fell silent.

  After a few minutes of nothing, I whispered, “Why can’t we hear them?”

  Right as the words left my mouth, Alexandria shot from the house. A heavily bearded man with blonde hair wearing no shoes or shirt followed after her.

  “Duck!” Sally whispered, and we both dropped down in our seats. I heard Alexandria’s car start and then nothing.

  “Is she gone?” I whispered.

  Sally peered over the dash to make sure the coast was clear. “She’s gone,” she confirmed.

  I sat up to look around and there were no signs of Alexandria or the guy. “Should we go after her?”
<
br />   “No, hopefully the guy follows her, so we can get inside and find out who he is.”

  I knew exactly who he was. He was the guy who was going to help Alexandria steal Cas’s inheritance from him. A wave of fury rolled through me. Hadn’t she done enough? We waited for half an hour before Sally decided the guy was staying put for the night. Then we headed for home.

  On the drive back, I asked her to stop by Cas’s house.

  “You going to tell him his wife is up to no good?” Sally asked.

  “Wouldn’t you?”

  “I would. I’d also make sure he warned her daddy.”

  Not sure what her dad had to do with this, I asked. “Why does he need to warn her dad?”

  Sally’s eyebrow shot to the roof of the car and I wondered what I had missed. “Uh duh, her dad is fucking loaded. Whose money did you think she was talking about?” Obviously Sally didn’t know about Cas having money. It wasn’t my place to tell her, so I played dumb and stared blankly at her. She shot me another questioning look. “What? You think we should just sit back and let her rob him blind or worse?”

  My head spun in a million different directions. Cas told me Alexandria’s father was loaded, but I had forgotten. Shit! Is she after Cas’s money, her father’s or both? Any way you looked at it, Alexandria was up to no good. I needed to talk to Cas as quickly as possible.

  “No, I definitely need to warn Cas.”

  Five minutes later, we pulled onto Cas’s street, only to discover his truck gone and the front porch lights off.

  “I bet he’s still on that stake out. Should we call Bobby? I bet he could track him down for us.”

  I considered it for a moment before deciding against it. The last thing I wanted was Cas mad at me for involving his friends in his business. “No. I’m hungry. Let’s get food and go home. I’ll catch up with him tomorrow,” I told her.

  After a run through the drive through, we went home and ate dinner in front of the television. Before going to bed, I texted Max and asked if he was feeling any better. He responded with a, “10-4.” I felt bad about his nose. This got me thinking about Cas, again. If Max looks that bad, I wonder what Cas looks like?

  After another fitful night’s sleep, I woke early and lay in bed thinking about what to say to Cas. Somehow, I didn’t think telling him Sally and I followed his ex-wife to an unknown location and eavesdropped on her conversation with a half-naked man with a beard, would go over well, but how else could I explain it? Alexandria was after his money, I was sure of it. What if she tried to hurt him? The thought made my blood boil. It also made me get a move on. Since it was early on a Saturday, Cas would be home. Sally already said I could borrow her car, so I bolted from the bed and ran for the bathroom to see how bad I looked. My hair was a bit frizzy, but I didn’t have time to tame it, so I ran my fingers through it and hoped Cas didn’t notice.

  Sally was pouring herself a cup of coffee when I entered the kitchen. I paused to take in her tie dyed shirt, obscenely short pajama shorts and black and purple striped Halloween socks.

  “Nice hair,” she said.

  I self-consciously ran my fingers over my hair, but stopped when I noticed her smiling at me. “What?” I asked, glaring at her.

  “Sheesh, you are so easy to tweak. Grab a cup of coffee and I’ll drive you over to Cas’s place.”

  Relief swept through me. “You’re going with me?” I didn’t want to admit how much I dreaded facing Cas alone. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure he would believe me, but if Sally was there, he had no choice. Not only was she a witness, but she could help fill in the blanks in case I forgot or was too busy drooling over him.

  “Of course I will, silly.”

  Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to Cas’s place. His truck was parked in the driveway, so I knew he was home. It took me ringing the doorbell three times, before he finally answered the door. One look at his battered and bruised face made me want to kill my stupid brother.

  “What the hell happened to you?” Sally not-so-tactfully asked. The side of Cas’s face was the same purple hue as Max’s nose. He was also sporting a fat lip.

  I stood there fuming. Damn you, Max McLellan!

  His eyes flared with surprise before asking, “What are you doing here?”

  “Ummm, can we talk to you?” I asked.

  “Now is not a good time,” he clipped. There was a cold edge to his voice I’d never heard before and it scared me.

  “Tough shit. You’re going to want to hear what we have to tell you,” Sally told him.

  His body tensed and his eyes flashed with something I couldn’t understand. For a second I felt as if he was trying to warn me, but then he spoke and I realized I was wrong. “Sarah said everything that needed to be said the other night.”

  “Caswell, could you get me some water, please?” a woman shouted from inside the house.

  “Who is that?” Sally and I both asked.

  The look of guilt on Cas’s face made my stomach dip. The only person I knew to call Cas Caswell was Alexandria. Without a word, I stepped past Cas into the house and followed the sound of voices to a large airy living room. The last time I was here, I’d become intimately familiar with Cas’s bedroom, but hadn’t really seen the rest of the house. The living room walls were a cool beige color and the hardwood floors were stained dark to match the crown molding and wooden beams lining the vaulted ceiling. The room was exactly how I’d pictured it to be, both warm and inviting.

  Alexandria sat curled in a large leather chair. She had a dark green blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Like sentries protecting their charge, Garret sat in a matching chair on her left and Bobby stood on her right. My heart painfully slammed against my chest as I tried to decipher what I was feeling.

  Sally stepped up beside me and gave me a knowing look. Somehow, Alexandria managed to beat us to the punch.

  “What the hell?” I quietly asked.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Sally mumbled under her breath.

  We both turned to Cas as he entered the room behind us. Sally had both eyebrows raised in question. I was just plain confused. His eyes met mine before shifting to Sally, and I could swear he was trying to tell us something. “Alexandria was in an accident late last night,” he told us.

  “What kind of accident?” Sally asked.

  “Someone jumped her outside her condo and held her at gunpoint. After roughing her up he ran off with her purse.”

  “They threatened to kill me, Caswell!” Alexandria exclaimed from her throne.

  I studied her profile and was surprised to see bruises on her face and neck. As she shifted in her seat, I got a good look at what she was wearing and my heart stuttered in my chest. Please tell me that is not Cas’s shirt? I wouldn’t call Alexandria pretty, but she was attractive. I glanced down at my Converse tennis shoes and worn jeans and couldn’t help but have doubts.

  “I called Caswell as soon as I could and he came and rescued me,” Alexandria drawled. Her voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard. I could feel Cas’s eyes staring holes through me, but I refused to look up at him. I was hurt, angry and so jealous I couldn’t even see straight. After everything she had done to him, how could he believe her?

  “So you caught the guy?” Sally asked. I glanced up to see her glaring at Bobby and Garrett.

  “Oh, heaven’s no,” Alexandria answered. “He was long gone with my purse by the time Caswell arrived.”

  Sally tried again. This time she directed the question at Cas. “Have the police already taken her statement?” I dragged my eyes from Alexandria over to Cas. When I saw him glowering angrily at me, I quickly looked away. A few seconds passed and I knew he was waiting for me to look back over before answering. Well, he could just wait all night for all I cared, because I was not looking at him again.

  Finally, I heard him say, “I advised…”

  “I told Caswell there was no point in contacting the police,” Alexandria butted in. “I really did not get a good lo
ok at the man and, thank goodness, didn’t have anything valuable in my purse. In fact, it was just my luck I left my cell phone in my apartment.”

  “I just bet it was,” Sally mocked in a perfect southern drawl. Alexandria’s eyes dangerously narrowed at Sally and my hand itched to slap her silly. Couldn’t they see they were being manipulated? “Though, you’d be surprised by how much you remember when talking to the police,” Sally continued. Her eyes shot to Garrett and Bobby. “You, of all people, know this,” she scolded. “You should get a sketch artist here as soon as possible to talk to her.”

  Alexandria glowered at Sally. “What did you say your name was?”

  “I didn’t,” Sally responded to Alexandria’s question. If Sally was anything, it was direct. She and Alexandria stared each other down. It reminded me of when Max and I were kids and we used to have staring contests. Whoever blinked first got thumped between the eyes. I would give anything to thump Alexandria between the eyes right about now, the snotty twat.

  “We have it under control, Sally,” Garrett warned.

  “Yes, Caswell already has these two handsome men working on it. Thank you for your concern, though,” Alexandria told Sally.

  Sally shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure thing, just trying to uphold the law,” she warned.

  The entire time Sally and Alexandria bantered back and forth, I could feel Cas’s eyes on me. Did he know his wife was lying? I wanted to grab him by the ear and yank him out of the room, but I couldn’t. Sally and I seriously need to regroup. In order to think straight, I had to get out of Cas’s house and away from that woman.

  As if reading my mind, Alexandria grabbed her head and loudly groaned. Bobby bent down and asked her if she was okay and Garrett jumped from his chair to check on her. When I saw Cas’s concerned expression, I’d had enough. Without a word I turned on my heels and started for the door. Cas called after me, but I kept going. By the time I hit the front door, I was running.

  “Sarah, wait!” Sally shouted. I slowed long enough for her to unlock the car.