Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (29 page)

Everyone was congregated around the kitchen island when I walked in. Mac squealed when he spotted me from his lofty perch on Ellie’s shoulder. I couldn’t get over how much he’d grown. With a headful of black hair and big blue eyes, he looked more and more like my brother every day.

“Come look!” Piper shouted. I stepped up to the counter and stared down at a sonogram picture. “Do you see it?” she squealed. Not sure what “it” was, I looked to Ellie for help.

“Look here,” she pointed to a tiny white line in the middle of a blob and asked, “Boy or girl?”

Since I didn’t see tiny penises poking out anywhere, I took a logical guess, “Girl?”

Joss and Piper clapped their hands, “We’re having a girl!” Joss squealed. Mac bounced up and down in Ellie’s arms and shrieked in delight.

I gave Joss a congratulatory hug and she told me all about her morning trip with Kurt to the doctor’s office. Eventually, we ended up in the living room talking about Max’s bruised and battered face. This, of course, led to the discussion of me and Cas and how we met without anyone knowing.

“Soooo, in all these months you never once slept with him?” Joss asked. My eyes drifted from Jos’s incredulous expression over to Ellie, who was also staring skeptically at me.
Damn. If I tell Ellie, she will tell Max and he will know I lied.

“You don’t have to tell us, Sarah,” Ellie said.

“Oh yes you do,” Piper challenged.

I thought about how forthcoming they all had been with me since I’d moved back to Charlotte. I was the one with trust issues, not them. Maybe it was time I stop shutting everyone out and let them in? I drew in a sharp breath and thought about where to begin. I might as well start at the beginning. Once I started, I couldn’t stop until I told it all. That is, except for Kalen. Kalen was not mine to tell.

“Cas never once alluded to having a wife?” Joss asked.

“I think he tried to tell me at Piper’s wedding, but I wouldn’t let him.”

“I knew he was a moody fucker, but never pegged him for a cheat,” Piper said. Piper’s harsh words bothered me.

“I’m so sorry, Sarah. You must be heartbroken. I wish I had known,” Ellie said.

“Surprisingly, I’m okay,” I told Ellie. Turning to Piper, I said, “Cas and Alexandria aren’t together. Their marriage is not like yours to Gage and never has been. Cas did the right thing by marrying Alexandria.” I didn’t want anyone to think poorly of him, especially not my friends.

“If it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it isn’t a chipmunk, honey,” Piper said. Ellie and Joss both busted into laughter.

I wanted so badly to tell them about Kalen, but didn’t want to break Cas’s confidence, so I limited the story to Alexandria’s addiction issues. Piper still didn’t like the fact Cas was married, but at least I made her see Cas’s side of things a little better.

“Max told me Cas was waiting at your place after work Thursday,” Ellie said.

“Yes, that’s when he explained everything,” I told her.

“So you are seeing him, even though he’s still married?” The exasperation in Piper’s voice made me want to scream.
What if I am? Could no one see this from my perspective?

“What if I am?” I challenged.

“Normally, I wouldn’t give a damn, but this is you we are talking about. You are like a little sister to me and I think you deserve better than this. If Cas wants you, he can have you…after he divorces her. That’s all I am saying,” Piper explained.

I felt bad for being angry with her. She was just trying to look out for me. “Cas told me he loved me the other day. It felt so good to hear, but at the same time hurt so much, because I couldn’t say it back. I agree with you, Piper. Until he’s officially divorced, I can’t be with him. As much as I didn’t want to, I told him if he still wants me when the divorce is final, he knows where to find me.”

“And now you are second guessing your decision?” Joss asked.

I nodded my head at her. “I am.”

“I would too,” Ellie agreed.

“Same here,” Joss said.

“Okay, maybe I would, too, but regardless, I would stand my ground. If Cas wants you, that isn’t going to change, Sarah.” Piper added.

I knew she was right, but it didn’t mean I liked hearing it.

Seeing my discomfort, Ellie changed the subject to Mac and how he was teething. I shot her a look of gratitude which she returned with an understanding smile. Thankfully, Kurt called Joss a few minutes later. He was stuck at Dragonfly and needed her to come and get him. Sally was still doing inventory, so I got a ride over to the bar with Joss. We were greeted by Kurt and Dillon, who were busy overseeing the men working on a new beer garden and patio out back. I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon helping Sally with inventory. It kept my mind off of Cas, as well as the fact I had just shared our private history with the girls. Around five-thirty, Sally and I finished up and headed out. We detoured by the apartment first, so Sally could change clothes and I could use the bathroom. By the time we made it back out to the car the sun was going down.

With light weekend traffic it took only ten minutes to get across town, instead of the twenty-five it took yesterday. We did a drive-by first to see if there were any cars parked in front.

“Shit. The garage door is closed. It was open yesterday,” Sally said, as we passed by.

“That doesn’t mean he’s there. He might have closed it on his way out,” I told her.

Sally pulled three houses down on the opposite side of the street and parked in front of a run-down house. “I’m going to peek in the garage window and then check the perimeter. While I’m doing that, you move over to the driver’s seat. That way, if something goes wrong, we can blast out of here,” she instructed.

I did not like the sound of this. “And what if he catches you sneaking around and decides to do something about it? I can’t let you go alone, Sally.”

“Hold your horses, Annie Oakley. I’m not going in with guns blazing. I just want to make sure no one is home before we proceed. I promise I’ll be right back.”

I warily eyed her before giving in. “Fine, but if you aren’t back in five minutes, I’m coming after you.” Sally shut the door and I crawled over to the driver’s seat and waited. Three and a half minutes later, the passenger door opened and Sally’s face appeared.

“The coast is clear. There’s a tall fence in back, but we can scale it without any problem.”

I held up her cell phone, but she shook her head, no. “We won’t need it. All we are doing is looking for anything that will give us a possible name and address as to who the guy is, and then we’re getting the hell out of dodge. Let’s go.”

The fence was over six feet tall and I wasn’t sure I could climb it by myself, so I got Sally to boost me. When I reached the top, I tossed a leg over and straddled it. Why, of all days, I picked to wear cut off jean shorts, I will never know. At least I had Converse on and not sandals. Once I was situated, I lowered my hand to Sally and helped pull her up beside me. Dusk had officially settled in and shadows of tree branches and weeds eerily danced across the yard. I tried not to think about how creepy they were. Sally dropped to the ground and then bolted across the yard towards the back door. Not wanting to be left behind, I swung my back leg over and accidentally lost my balance. As I started to fall, I latched on to the top of the fence and felt one of my legs scrape across a sharp object, as I scrambled to get my balance back. Breathing heavily, I slowly lowered myself down and let go. With a loud thud, I landed flat on my back onto the hard ground below the fence.

“That was graceful. Are you okay?” Sally asked. She was staring down at me with an amused look on her face.

I assessed the damage before answering, “That fucking hurt.” I sat up and winced. From my upper thigh down to my knee was one long, bloody nail scrape.

“Here, let me help,” Sally said, and held out her hand. Grasping it, I tried to stand and my left ankle buckled under me.

“That bloody hurts,” I hissed.

“Stay here. I’ll be back in a flash.” Sally started back across the yard.

“Wait! Don’t leave me!” I harshly whispered, and hobbled after her. There was no way in hell I was staying in this creepy yard by myself.

Sally waited for me to catch up before continuing the trek to the house. Just as we reached the bottom step to the patio, the porch lights popped on. Blinded by the light, we both froze in our tracks. Fear and adrenaline pumped through me as I turned to see what Sally wanted us to do.

“Run!” she shouted.

Like a bat out of hell, she sprinted off the porch and around the side of the house. Having no idea where she was going, I hobbled after. My ankle screamed in pain but I ignored it. The hell if I was getting buried in the cellar with the old lady. Sally grabbed my arm as I limped by and slapped her hand over my mouth to stifle my shriek of surprise.

“Shhhh, it’s just me,” she whispered in my ear.

I took stock of our surroundings and realized we were trapped. With the house behind us and the fence in front of us and directly to our left, we had nowhere to go, except back the way we came. “We’re trapped,” I whispered.

“Did you see anyone come out of the house?” Sally quietly asked.

I thought about it for a second, before answering, “No. You screamed run, so I ran.” Sally started laughing. Not finding a speck of humor in our situation, I snapped, “What?”

“Motion sensors,” she answered. When I didn’t say anything, she started to explain and suddenly I found the whole thing hilariously funny. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You should have seen your face,” I howled.

“Ha-ha,” she mocked, “let’s do this, so we can get the hell out of here.”

I followed her back around the house, where it was now dark. The second we stepped onto the porch we were once again bathed in blindingly bright light. Sally plastered her face against the window and said, “Kitchen.” I watched her pull something from her back pocket. It reminded me of Piper and her nail file.

“Is that a nail file?” I asked. I heard a “Pop” and the door sprung open.

“Nail files are for amateurs,” she said. “Cas gave me this baby a few weeks ago and I have been practicing.” She held up a skinny metal object. Just the mention of Cas made my heart hurt. I wondered if he was hanging out at his house with Alexandria and getting sucked in by more of her lies. I thought he was smarter than that, but after this morning, I wasn’t so sure. “We are looking for something that tells us who the guy is. Try not to touch anything, though. We don’t want to leave fingerprints,” Sally quietly instructed.

I could feel blood running down my leg from where I scraped it on the fence and was worried about tracking it through the house. “Before I come inside, I need a paper towel or something to wipe my leg with.” I could imagine Max’s face when I got arrested for breaking and entering.
How do you know it was my sister, officer? Well, son, it wasn’t that difficult, as she left bloody shoe prints all over the house.
The outside flood lights illuminated the kitchen enough for Sally to see her way to the counter and the paper towel rack. She ripped off a handful and brought them to me.

“How bad is it?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I told her, wiping it away. The second I stepped inside, the flood lights turned off and we were shrouded in darkness.

“Damnit!” she exclaimed.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

Snatching one of the paper towels from my hand, Sally placed on the drawer handle and pulled it open. On drawer three, she said, “Bingo,” and held up a flashlight. Since we only had one, I followed her through the house while she searched for something that would tell us who the mystery man was.

After searching the front of the house and finding nothing, we stepped into a hallway with four doors. Two led to bedrooms with nothing in them and one was a bathroom. The fourth was a flight of steps leading down to a cellar. Sally shot me an evil smile before heading down the stairs. I seriously wanted to throw up. Visions of the dead granny played through my head.

“This is a bad idea,” I whispered from the top step. I really did not want to go down there.

“Stay there, you pussy, I’ll be back in a second,” Sally teased. With a sigh of relief, I silently thanked her for letting me off the hook. As I strained to hear what Sally was doing, the floor creaked behind me. I turned to see what it was and something hard slammed into my head. I must have screamed, because suddenly Sally was bounding up the stairs in front of me. I was too stunned to warn her, until it was too late.

“Stop right there,” a deep voice behind me said.

Sally stopped on the top step in front of me. “Are you okay?” she asked. Suddenly, a light above our heads flicked on.

I closed my eyes at the brightness and touched the side of my head where he hit me.
Damn that hurt
. “I think so,” I answered her.

“Did you have to hit her so hard? She’s bleeding,” Sally scolded.

“Get up,” he ordered. Sally helped me stand. Before I could turn and see who hit me, I felt something press against the side of my head. “One wrong move and I will blow your head off,” he growled in my ear. My eyes darted to Sally and I saw fear. If Sally was afraid, I knew we were in deep trouble. “At the end of the hall is a door. Start walking,” he told us. He pulled me back so Sally could pass by. As she did, she squeezed my hand for reassurance. Too bad it didn’t work. “Go,” he told me, and I followed after Sally. Paralyzing fear coursed through me. What was he going to do to us? When we reached the door at the end of the hall, he told Sally to open it. I had never been so scared in my life. Sally’s hand reached for the door knob and I closed my eyes.
Please don’t kill us.
“In,” he said, and gave me a big shove through the door. As I fell over Sally, he slammed the door behind us and locked it.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Sally said.

“Bloody, fucking hell, Sally, he had a gun to my head!” I harshly whispered. The last thing I wanted was him showing back up for a repeat performance.

“Yes, he was most unhappy,” she muttered.

I felt her moving around the room, but could not see a damn thing. “What are you doing?”