by Gray Gardner
Carlson opened the door and she immediately flew backwards, slamming into Mait’s body. He reached out and held her arm, halfway to hold her up and keep her from falling, and halfway to keep her there and preemptively stop an escape attempt.
“You brought me to that maniac’s house?” she squealed in an angry voice, trying to simultaneously back away from the giant standing in the doorway and look over her shoulder with a scowl at her lying boyfriend. Was he going to discipline her? Was he going to give her another shot? Just humiliate her even further because he could?
“He needs to say something and it’s important to him,” Mait began, watching his brother nod at him with respect. “Just… let’s go in and hear him out. Please, sweetheart.”
“No, I’ll tell you what, sweetheart,” she growled, feeling uneasy and hurt. “You can go in there and fuck yourself, and he can watch!”
“Mary Madeline, I’m sorry my brother decided to bring you here and not tell you where you were going, but he’s right. There is something very important we have to do right now and I need you both to come inside.” Carlson smiled pleasantly and easily, stepping aside in his worn jeans that hung low on his hips and white polo that clung just a little to his broad shoulders. He was bigger than Mait, but not too much.
“Oh,” she replied, relaxing in Mait’s large grip and looking up at the enormous plastic surgeon. “Well, if it’s really that important, then by all means, you can go fuck yourself, too!”
She’d been tricked. Scammed! By her own boyfriend. What a liar! “An errand?” she grumbled, twisting around in Mait’s hands as he slowly took awkward steps into the foyer while she dug her heels in. “Really?”
Sighing, he wrestled her further into the house as she kept throwing evil glares up at him. Yes, it had been wrong to lie, but obviously there was no way in hell she would have come on her own free will. As her navy and white striped sweater twisted up under her arms and her jeans and heels dragged along the hardwood floor, Mait was the one who ended up pausing with surprise as they entered the large family room.
“Liam?” he asked, feeling the little body in his hands stop and try to catch her breath.
“Hey man,” Liam greeted, walking over and shaking his hand. He winked down at Mary, which only infuriated her further. “Just dropped by to open a bottle of this Bordeaux my aunt sent me from Chateau Margaux.”
Mait looked down at the bottle in his hands but it was Mary who spoke first. “Don’t open that now!”
All three men looked down at her as she frowned at Mait over her shoulder and jerked her arms free. She carefully took the bottle and shook her head. “The vintage is like, 2011. Wait at least two more years before opening it. Dumbass,” she huffed, shoving it back into his hands. She glanced back at the giant in the doorframe. “Do you have something that’s not $500 a bottle, Doctor Frasier?”
“Mait, take him to the wine cellar,” Carlson sighed, not liking her attitude but admiring her gumption. “We’ll go into my study and take care of business while you two open a less expensive bottle and let it breathe.”
Mary immediately shot a look up at Mait. She didn’t know what was behind those words but judging from her past experiences while alone with Carlson Frasier she had a pretty good idea.
Mait gave her a reassuring smile as she looked desperately up at him. He could give in. Right then, he could give in and swoop her up and take her home. He could be her hero except that Carlson had sounded like this was so important.
“Do you think he’s going to apologize for spanking her and her friend?” Liam asked, ducking his head under an exposed wood beam as Mait flicked on the spot lighting in the wine cellar and began searching the least-dusty bottles for a California red.
“Most likely. He’ll examine how her stitches are healing and tell her he’s sorry and to call him if she ever needs anything. He possesses a certain perspicuity when it comes to women… as well as a surprisingly big soft spot.”
“I noticed,” Liam sighed, holding a bottle that Mait handed back. “Nicole might as well be Her Highness when he is around.”
“Yes, you mere mortal.” Mait grinned, grabbing another bottle and heading back up the stairs. “Nic is his princess. And—”
Both men paused at the sound of banging and crying coming from the main hallway. Rounding the corner by the front door, Mait froze at the bottom of the stairway in the foyer and peered into the beveled glass of the mahogany doors to the study.
“What the hell?” Mait yelled as he simultaneously lunged forward. He didn’t get to barrel through the doors, though, because his cunning older brother had called in a favor from a friend. Liam was wrapped around Mait and had both of his arms pinned so tightly that he could barely breathe, let alone move.
When they released him, though, he was going to demand retribution. They’d gone too far. He watched helplessly as the girl he loved cried and banged on the door, looking right at him.
* * *
Mary obediently, albeit reluctantly, shuffled behind the giant doctor as he led her through a pair of doors into a large, dark room that resembled an office/library/man cave. Big desk, oxblood leather furniture, shelves of first editions, and of course, the 50-inch flat screen above the fireplace. Men.
Carlson slid the heavy doors shut behind them and cleared his throat as he rounded her to his desk and leaned back against it with his hip.
“I want to start by saying that I care about you, Mary Madeline,” he gently stated, folding his hands at his waist. “I love my brother. I love my family. And anyone who comes into their lives immediately comes into mine.”
Mary bit her tongue to swallow back the insults that were surging up her throat. He was trying. She’d give him that.
“I sort of lost myself for a little bit there when you were attacked in your home—”
“A little bit?” she screeched, voice an octave higher.
“And,” he continued, trying to cow her with a serious stare. She just squared up to him and folded her arms across her chest. “And, when you came into my OR looking like a battered wife, I pretty much lost my mind. You’re Mait’s. That makes you a Frasier responsibility—”
“I’ll be responsible for myself, thank you,” Mary huffed, glaring up at him. What was she, an acquisition?
“I want you to do something for me,” he said a little louder, looking more annoyed. She had more than gumption in her. She had flat out defiance. It was annoying and encouraging, since dating his kid brother would take both.
Mary waited as he stood and ran his hand through his hair, then exhaled. “What?” she asked, holding out her arms. She was becoming annoyed, too. He didn’t seem to be apologizing like she’d thought.
“I went to Nathaniel Worthington’s apartment on campus and demanded that he apologize to you. It took some convincing, but he accepted that he was in the wrong. What I want you to do is forgive him.”
“No fucking way,” she spat out with a nervous laugh. That was what the meet and greet at this giant doctor’s palatial house had been about? Yeah right.
“I really… I really am so sorry.”
Mary turned her head towards the bay window and that quiet, choked voice and froze in place. Had he been there the whole time? Lurking on the threshold of the room? Watching? Waiting?
“Mait,” she whispered, taking a step backwards. She felt so stiff. Carlson took a step towards her and she sprang into action, flipping around and yanking on the doors. They wouldn’t budge.
“Mary Madeline—”
“Mait!” she screamed, her voice louder this time but still crackling with emotion. She banged her fist against the door just as he came into view through the glass.
“I told you she wouldn’t be comfortable with this,” Nathan softly said.
Mary jerked back around and pressed her back into the doors, eyes darting back and forth between both men as her stomach fell to her knees and sweat trickled down the side of her face. She knew she shouldn’t be a coward, but s
he didn’t want Mait’s brother and the lunatic who’d changed the landscape of her face to gang up on her.
“Please,” she choked, shaking her head. “Please let me out.”
She felt the door bouncing slightly at her back and looked over her shoulder. Mait was struggling with Liam and on occasion flinging his body against the door.
“As you can probably deduce, my little brother wants to kill Mr. Worthington. But you should realize that he is truly very sorry and I want you to tell him what you will. I hope, though, that you accept his apology, Mary Madeline.”
“I accept,” she quickly replied, swallowing and nodding at Nathaniel. She turned and looked up at Carlson. “He’s forgiven.”
Pressing his mouth into a thin line and pacing in front of the fireplace, he actually placed a hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder and looked back at Mary. “You don’t have to be afraid of what you’re feeling. Just tell him how you feel… what you felt at that moment.”
“Dr. Phil,” Mary answered very evenly, though her heart was racing so badly that she thought she would faint at any moment. “I was angry. Everybody knows that. But it’s done and it can’t be undone. I’m not angry anymore.”
Nathaniel actually winced at that comment and eyed the nude bandages covering her cheek.
“Now I understand that you’re a doctor, but even you can’t tell me what I’m feeling. I forgive him. May I please go?” Each word spat through clenched white teeth.
“Mary…” Carlson sighed, growing angrier at her defiance. There was zero sincerity behind her acceptance and he demanded nothing short of complete compliance.
“Open the fucking doors!” she shouted, grabbing the nearest object, which happened to be a wooden signed Cy Young bat that was mounted with an old mitt and baseball on the wall.
“Stop!” Carlson shouted, as she swung for the fences and smashed the glass of one of the mahogany doors. Beveled glass rained down and shattered further as it fell to the hardwood floor. Both parties on either side of the door stood frozen with shock.
“Unlock this door,” she ordered, tossing the bat onto the ground without a second thought.
“Do it, Carlson,” Mait ordered from the hole in the glass, Liam stationary behind him.
Unsure whether to mourn his hallway door or his priceless souvenir, Carlson silently slid the key from his pocket and twisted it into the door.
Just as silently, Mary pushed past him, crunching over the broken glass, and out the front door.
“We aren’t through,” Mait growled, pointing at his older brother and shoving Liam aside as he hurried after Mary.
“Did that go like you expected?” Liam asked, sipping out of the opened and breathing bottle of La Crema as he stared after Mait and Mary. The occasion called for lots of alcohol. No cups required.
“A modified version, yes,” Carlson sighed, listening to the fighting on the sidewalk. He just wanted peace. He’d get it… but it would be one hell of a project.
“Did you know?” Mary asked, cheeks red as she clenched her fists and marched down the sidewalk. If he even breathed in a way that indicated a positive response she wasn’t sure she’d be able to hold it together.
“Baby, stop,” Mait desperately called after her, grabbing for her arm and pulling her to him. She trembled underneath his hand. “Sweetheart, you have to know. You have to. I lost it when I heard you crying for me in that room. I still don’t know why he had to lock you in there—”
Mary pulled her shoulders out of his hands and paced back down the street, the setting sun making every shadow longer and darker. She felt out of control. She felt like she’d been deceived by people who were supposed to care about her. She felt like she did when she’d trusted Nathaniel to see her home and he’d tried to force himself on her and then split her lip open.
“I don’t like feeling like this,” she stated, her voice filled with emotion as she clenched and unclenched her fists in front of her.
Mait paused and looked to his side. They were back in front of Carlson’s house. He wished somebody would explain a few things to him. He absolutely hated seeing her like this. “Let’s go back to your place—”
“I’m not a coward!” she yelled, surprised at the warm tears streaming down her face. She jerked away from Mait’s hand and took a shaky breath, wiping away the tears with her fingers.
“You’re the bravest girl I know,” he replied, smiling as she composed herself all on her own. He wasn’t joking, either. The things she’d been through before and during her stretch at Eastland had proven that time and again.
Looking up at him and finding strength in his presence, she found herself relaxing a little. He didn’t lie, not really. He thought he was helping her and his brother mend fences. With a little twitch of her eyebrow, she licked her lips and said the last words he thought he’d hear. “There was a third party in the room with us.”
“Who?”
“Nathaniel Worthington,” she growled, watching his back as he stormed Carlson’s castle and then quickly falling into step behind him.
Chapter 6
Surprise didn’t grasp the three men in the house when Mait barreled inside, found Carlson, Liam and Nathaniel standing around the broken glass and punched the kid so hard that he flew back onto the staircase. Even Nathaniel had been expecting that.
The surprise came in the form of a high-heeled strawberry blonde that had snuck in as everyone was staring at Nathaniel and who’d then cold-cocked Carlson in the head. He flew back, tripped over Liam and landed back first onto the broken glass with a grunting growl that only Carlson Frasier could release.
“You can make me roll over and submit to whatever you want. Congratulations. You’re a big, strong man. But hear me now. Expect retribution for making me feel weak,” Mary evenly said, staring him down. “You lock me in a room with two men who’ve hit me, and yeah, I’ll shake in my boots and say whatever the hell you want. But don’t expect me to spend the rest of my life regretting that I was too scared and too weak to fight back. Because I am not and believe me, I will.” She turned for the door and then threw over her shoulder. “Send me the bill for your door, Dr. Frasier. I always repay my debts.”
Mait watched her calmly walk outside. He stiffly looked down at his brother, friend, and student, mouth halfway open, and with absolutely nothing to add to the situation, he turned and walked out of the front door, slamming it behind him.
* * *
“Just let me in, darling.”
“Mother. Please. I don’t know how else to convey to you that I will not go to church or anywhere else with Carlson and Liam. End of story!”
Mait stood at Mary’s front door, gripping it with white knuckles and doing his best to calmly refuse his parents’ offer to pick them up and drive them to church that Sunday morning. Mary was resting peacefully with a fresh ice pack on her knuckles, under a mountain of quilts on the couch, but he lowered his voice anyway. “His heart was in the right place but he still… It feels like a betrayal. He truly labors under the delusion that he is always right. Like whatever he does and says is gospel. Well, not this time. He was wrong this time, Mom.”
“I know,” she softly replied, shaking her head. So, the whole family knew now? Perfect. “Maitland, I know. His heart was in the right place, dear. You know how he likes to keep the peace.”
“Yes, and he likes to force it upon us by any means necessary,” Mait growled, pressing his lips into a thin line. “And mostly in a non-peaceful manner.”
“He is sorry,” she assured her youngest son. She looked so desperate standing on the front steps in the gray morning drizzle. “So please don’t let her come between you two—”
Mait slammed the door and turned, not even looking back as she knocked again and again. He knelt next to the couch and brushed tangled hair away from creamy, partially freckled cheeks. She’d cried almost all night, but that morning she’d picked herself up out of bed and had made it downstairs. She didn’t want to feel weak, even though sh
e did. He was proud of her.
“What do you need, baby?” he asked gently when those blue eyes looked up at him.
“You,” she whispered in reply, her pink lips matching her cheeks. “Forever.”
“That’s the deal,” he sighed contently, kissing her softly. No words had ever made him feel that good.
“Things are ruined between me and your family,” she stated, looking down at the blanket.
Mait shook his head and took her hand. “There will be a new crisis in less than a week and all will be forgotten. Liam will propose to Nicole and give her a one-karat heart shaped diamond that will make my mother faint from embarrassment on sight. And then they’ll have the wedding to plan. Carlson will have another rich actor try to sue him for making the right boob uneven with the left. Trust me. We will be off everyone’s radar very soon.”
Mary smiled and looked up into his dark eyes. Warmth washed over her as she realized she hadn’t felt so content in years. Maybe ever. She decided to take the leap. “What about planning for our wedding?”
His smile was edged with relief, but he tried to keep from appearing too enthusiastic. “I thought we’d try and do something small.”
“Yes,” she breathed out, sitting up and taking his hand. “Small. And soon.”
Mait leaned forward and gave her a long, slow kiss that nearly made her forget what they were discussing. She gently pushed back on his shoulder but held his shirt in her hands. “You won’t regret not having everyone you know there?”
“I don’t know that many people,” he lied, smiling at her anyway. His lists could have gone on for miles but he understood her apprehension. She’d already had a wedding, after all.
“Just… you, me, a witness, and someone to officiate?” she asked quietly, lifting an eyebrow and biting her lip on the unmarred side.
He drew her in for another kiss. This would be a lifetime of indulgence and never really being able to say no to that adorable face. Every second would be perfect.
* * *
