Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (18 page)

Sarah tried to scoot past me without speaking. I almost let her go, but couldn’t, and ended up grabbing her arm before she could get away.

“Hey, I’m sorry about what happened at my place,” I told her.

Sarah stared down at my hand gripping her arm while I was speaking. When I finished, her eyes lifted to mine. They were completely void of emotion.

What the hell?

She had never looked at me this way. In fact, I had never seen her look at anyone this way. I didn’t like it one bit. I raised my eyebrow and asked, “Did you hear me?”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “Oh, I heard you alright,” she clipped.

“What is wrong with you?”

Leaning forward onto the balls of her feet, she gave it to me. “What’s wrong with me? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. You shagged me and, yet again, blew me off with some lame excuse as to why you can’t be with me. Then,” she threw up her hands in exasperation, “I find out you are kissing Isabella and playing baby daddy to her daughter. If you wanted to be with her, why in the hell did you sleep with me, Cas?”

Her words shocked and pissed me off. For years I had lived with Alexandria’s accusations. If she wasn’t accusing me of cheating, she was accusing me of spending her daddy’s money. If I wasn’t having sex with her, then there had to be someone else. Yes, there was someone else, my fucking hand. Sarah doing the same thing Xan did was more than I could handle.

“Are you asking me if I was with Isabella? Because it sounds to me like an accusation. You came to my house in the middle of the night, Sarah, not the other way around. When I was lodged deep inside you, I didn’t hear you complaining. I heard you screaming mine and God’s name. As far as blowing you off. I have always been straight with you. In fact, from square one I told you we needed to keep it simple. If, and that’s a big if, I wanted to be with Isabella, you have no say in it because we are
not together.
I made sure to stress the last part. Now, had you asked me if Isabella and I were involved, I would have told you, no. Isabella belongs to Dillon. She always has. But you didn’t, you acted like a child and threw accusations in my face.” Her angry expression morphed into one of hurt, but I was too pissed to care. I’d apologized for being a dick and she spewed her insecurities all over me.
Fuck that.

“Unbelievable,” she said.

“You got that right,” I agreed.

“I am going back to Scotland,” she hissed.

“I think that’s a wise decision,” I retorted. The second I said it, I wanted to take it back. The last thing I wanted was her leaving the country. Sarah’s eyes filled with tears. Feeling like a complete shit, I reached out for her and pulled back when I noticed someone standing in the room with us.

Ellie.

“Ummm, guys, Max is changing Mac in one of the rooms up here. You need to take it somewhere else or…”

“There’s nothing for Max to see,” I stated.

Sarah gave me a scathing look and shot out of the room like her tail was on fire, leaving me with a very unhappy Ellie.

“I have no clue what is going on between you two.” I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up her hand to stop me. “And, I don’t want to know,” she continued. “Sarah has been through hell and back. She is young and beautiful, Cas, but she is fragile in a way you cannot understand. Whatever you do, please remember that.”

Caught up in my own personal hell, I hadn’t bothered to think about what Sarah might be going through.
Just another reason we should not be together. Sarah deserves someone who puts her feelings first and has no baggage.
The thought of another guy touching her perfect body infuriated me. Anyway you sliced it, I was fucked.

With a nod of my head to Ellie, I went to find Bobby and another beer.

Dinner was followed by fireworks. Max and Kurt were too drunk to handle explosives, so Dillon, Tut and I took over. Not long after fireworks ended, people started taking off. Among the first to leave were Isabella, Sally and Sarah. After our encounter upstairs, Sarah wouldn’t look at me the rest of the night. I had to admit, it smarted. I kept telling myself she was better off without me, but truth be told, I was having doubts. Something deep inside me twisted as I watched her walk away tonight. Right as she rounded the corner of the garage, she looked back over her shoulder. Our eyes connected and held. Then she looked away and disappeared around the corner. I had to stop myself from going after her.

“You’ve been staring at my baby sister all night, Ashford. What gives?”

Damn.

I turned to see a very calm looking Max watching me. I wasn’t buying it. Under his calm, cool façade he was coiled like a snake ready to strike. The daring glint in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

“Even if I wanted her, I couldn’t have her,” I admitted. I could tell from his expression, I’d surprised him.

With a slight cock of his head, he replied, “Yeah, why’s that?”

I gave him the simplest answer I could think of, “Because, she is way too good for me.”

A puzzled look appeared on his face. “I don’t know about that. I do know if you pursue her, I will have to kill you. I really don’t want to do that because I like you.”

Ellie’s exasperated “Max!” startled us. We both turned to see her standing in the kitchen doorway with a drooling Mac in her arms. “There will be no killing!” she loudly stated.

Max winked at her. Then he looked back at me and nodded his head. I got it. He wanted me to leave his baby sister alone. Max’s phone rang and he paused long enough to fish it out of his back pocket and answer it.

“Max McLellan,” he answered. He listened for a moment and then his body tensed. Something was wrong. “We’ve got a bad connection. Can you repeat that last sentence?” he shouted at the person on the other end. After a few more seconds of listening, he shouted, “What the fuck? Is everyone okay? What about Sarah?” The panicked look on his face had me worried.

The night Kalen died flashed through my head and I began pacing.
Please tell me Sarah is okay.

“Got it,” he said. Then he ended the call.

I waited for him to speak, but he walked right past me and folded Ellie into his arms. I wanted to punch him.

“The girls have been in an accident. I need you to drive me to the site,” he told Ellie.

Whoa, what? What did he mean they’d been in an accident?

Ellie’s dad starting talking about Mac, but all I could hear was white noise
. Sarah.
Without thinking, I bolted for the parking lot. That’s when I realized I didn’t drive my truck, Bobby did.

Fuck!

Max ran past me and I hauled ass after him. When we stopped beside his truck, he started hassling me. “I knew you were lying!” he all but shouted at me.

Before we got into it, Ellie was there telling him to cool it.

Please let Sarah be alive
, I chanted to myself. Images of Kalen taking his last breath played like a silent movie in my head.

Ellie placed her hand on my shoulder and whispered, “It’s going to be okay.” Her calm, soothing tone helped me to get my footing and pull back from the rabbit hole I was about to plunge down. By the time we got to the crash site, I could once again think rationally, but barely. Ellie put the truck in park and Max and I simultaneously jumped out. We darted through the mass of people surrounding the ambulances and spotted Isabella at the same time. She pointed us to where Sarah was.

We found her as she was being loaded into the ambulance. She was unconscious with her head strapped down to the backboard. Her arm was splinted to her side and the paramedic said her vitals were good, but he was concerned that she was still out. The ambulance was taking her to the nearest hospital for further tests. As the ambulance was about to pull away, Max jumped in with them and told me to ride with Ellie. I wanted to ride with Sarah. I needed to be by her side, but I knew I couldn’t because I had no claim on her. Instead, I sprinted back to Max’s truck and climbed in the passenger’s side.

After explaining to Ellie what was happening, she attempted to talk to me about Sarah, but I couldn’t. All I could focus on were the last words we’d spoken and the thought that I may never get the chance to make things right with her. I had been here once before and it nearly killed me. I wasn’t sure if I could handle it again. That’s when it hit me.

I’m in love with her.

Sarah

‡

I
woke with
an excruciating headache and an obnoxious beeping noise echoing through my aching skull.

Turn off the damn alarm!

I started to roll over and a spear of pain ripped through my left hand.

Owowowowowowow!

“She’s waking up,” Max said.

“Turn it off,” I whined.

“She’s awake!” Max loudly exclaimed. The sound of his booming voice made me flinch in pain.

“Shhhh, Max. Stop yelling. The doctor said she most likely has a concussion,” Ellie quietly chastised.

“Baby,” he replied.

Why couldn’t I think straight? Everything was a jumbled mess, except for the pain in my head.

An unfamiliar voice pierced through the fog of pain. “Sarah, can you open your eyes for me?” I started to nod, but the pain stopped me mid-motion. Something touched my face and I forced my eyes to open. It took me a second to focus in on Max, Ellie and an older gentleman with a stethoscope around his neck.

“Where am I?” I croaked.

“You are in the hospital. You were in an accident. I’m Dr. LeFevre,” the man replied.

The second he said the word accident, it all came rushing back. My eyes shot to Max and Ellie.

“Dana!” I gasped.

“Everyone is okay,” Ellie said.

“She tried to run us off the road. She went through the guard rail and we were safe. A car hit us out of nowhere.” I stumbled over my words as I tried to get them out.

“It’s okay, Sarah. You will have plenty of time to explain. Right now, I need to see what we’re dealing with,” the doctor said.

After several tests and X-rays, they determined I had a mild concussion and two broken bones in my left hand. Max and the police were waiting in my room when I returned. I told them everything I could remember. I was certain Dana was trying to kill us and was relieved when Max told me she was dead. The woman was a nutter.

The police left as the technician retrieved me for another set of tests. This time Ellie was in the room with Cas when I returned. I almost made the technician wheel me somewhere else. I knew I was going to have to face Cas at some point, but did it have to be now when I felt so damn vulnerable? As Ellie helped settle me onto the bed, the nurse appeared and informed me they would be in to set my hand shortly. She also said the doctor wanted to keep me overnight for observation.

The second she left the room, Cas pulled the chair up beside me. I glanced around for Ellie, but she was gone.
Thanks Ellie
. I would definitely be discussing this with her later. As for Cas, I didn’t know what to think. Actually, that wasn’t true. I was hurt and angry. Cas had been crystal clear at MMG about where he stood, and it was not with me.
Thank him for coming and move him along his merry way, Sarah.
I rested my aching head on the pillow and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see his pretty face anymore. It only reminded me of what I couldn’t have.

“No need to fret, killer. As you can see, I’m fine. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya,” I told him. When he failed to reply, I cracked open an eye to make sure he was still there. Sure enough, he was staring down at me with a sinfully gorgeous smile on his face. Good thing I wasn’t hooked to a heartrate machine or the alarm would have gone off. That’s how hard my heart was beating. Why did I have to be so affected by him? Both my head and my heart wanted him. Wanting a man I could not have was never my plan. Yet, here we were.

Cas gently took my uninjured hand in his. As he laced his fingers through mine, my heart skipped a beat. With each stroke of his thumb across the top of my hand my heart gave in a little more. I was so out of my depth with this man, but I could no longer help it. As I stared into his beautiful blue eyes, I knew I was in love with him.

I am so stupid. I’ve gone and done the one thing he asked me not to do.

The concerned look on his face made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. At the same time, I felt guilty. I knew he was only here because I was hurt. “I’m sorry for earlier. I lashed out at you and shouldn’t have.” His deep, tender voice was my undoing. Tears leaked from my eyes and all I could do was sit there in my hospital bed feeling laid bare and emotionally raw. Letting go of my hand, Cas leaned forward and wiped the tears from my face. “Please don’t cry,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry, too,” I sniffled. “I should have asked about Isabella. It’s just that….” I paused in order to retrieve the right words.

“Just what?” he urged.

“It wasn’t my place. You have been clear about not wanting a relationship with me. I’m the one who took it too far. When I heard you were with Isabella, it all made sense. I was angry with you, but also at myself,” I admitted.