His End Game (MMG Series)

by R B Hilliard

“Oh, I love games,” Polly clapped.

  “No!” Kurt and I both yelled. The last time Joss made us play one of her stupid drinking games, Kurt and I spent the next day in traction.

  “Oh, come on,” Joss coaxed, trying hard not to laugh, “I promise it won’t be as bad as last time.”

  Kurt threw me a bullshit look that made me laugh.

  “What did you have in mind?” Garrett asked.

  “How about something simple, like truth or dare?” she smiled sweetly.

  Everybody groaned at this.

  “No way,” Dillon said. “I stopped playing drinking games back in college.”

  “Really, I mean how immature can you be?” Dana chimed in.

  The hurt look on Joss’ face made me want to slap Dana.

  “Why don’t I make us some munchies and put on some music? Ellie, do the speakers work out here?” Lena interrupted.

  “Sure. Do you want help?”

  “I’ll help her,” Polly said, hoisting her almost naked body out of the tub. She had on one of my skimpier suits, but at least it was from my college days and marginally less obscene than the one Dana was wearing. Polly’s looked about two sizes too small whereas Dana might as well have slapped on some pasties and a G-string.

  Joss barely missed taking out Kurt’s nose as she slapped both hands over his eyes.

  “Awwww, come on,” he complained.

  “Oh sweet Jesus,” Harry sighed. “I think my boner just got a boner.”

  Dramatically squinting, her hands still covering Kurt’s eyes, Joss asked, “Is that what that is? Whew, for a minute there, I thought it was Kurt’s big toe.”

  “Ha, ha!” Harry said.

  Jos narrowed her eyes on me, “Stop being Sally server and get in.”

  “I might in a minute.”

  Kurt held up his glass. “These are damn good margaritas Ellie. Is this the same recipe you used last year?”

  I tapped my glass to his. “Yep, I obviously spent way too much time in college experimenting with mixed drinks and drowning my sorrows.”

  “I can’t imagine what a girl like you has to be sad about,” replied Dillon.

  “You’d be surprised,” I mumbled. Dana was shooting daggers through me and I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her.

  “These are great though Ellie, really,” Dillon said, completely ignoring Dana, who was getting angrier by the second. “Hey Kurt, Thursday margaritas at Dragonfly sounds good doesn’t it? Especially if we have Ellie serving these….”

  “The ones at Cantina Fifty Three are better,” Dana snapped. Nice.

  I noticed that the margarita pitcher was almost empty. That was my excuse to get away from Miss Merry Sunshine before I strangled her. Polly and Lena passed me with a tray of food as I made my way to the kitchen. While looking for limes in the refrigerator I heard the door open.

  Thinking it was Polly or Lena, I shouted, “I’m hurrying!”

  “Don’t hurry on my account.”

  Crap! What is Dillon doing in here?

  Ignoring him, I grabbed two limes, closed the refrigerator and continued with what I was doing.

  “Ellie,” his deep voice called out.

  “Hmmmm?” I was squeezing the limes to death but didn’t want to stop and have to look at him.

  “Would you please look at me?”

  Crap!

  Slowly, I placed the decimated limes on the cutting board, took a deep breath and lifted my head to look him directly in the eyes.

  Thank Jesus he is wearing a towel.

  I could see the concern in his eyes.

  “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

  “For?”

  “For the way that Dana has been acting tonight.”

  “She should be apologizing, not you, Dillon.” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice. I mean, really? How was it his fault that his girlfriend was a total and complete hag?

  “She just…”

  I held up my hand and stopped him. “Don’t you dare excuse her behavior. I can’t pretend to understand you or your choices. As long as you are happy dating someone like….that, then more power to you. I will have to say that, after spending such a lovely evening getting to know her, I will have to rescind her invitation into my house.”

  He smiled when I said this. “She’s not a vampire, Ellie.”

  I arched my eyebrow at him. “Oh, she’s something all right. I just haven’t figured out what that is, yet.”

  “She’s just…”

  “Mean Dillon, she’s mean and you’re…. not. You deserve better and I hope someday you find it.” Squeezing his arm, I grabbed the pitcher and made my way back out to the hot tub.

  When Dillon appeared five minutes later, Dana was out of the hot tub, dressed and steaming mad. Wisely, he decided that it was time that they went home.

  Everyone else decided to call it a night shortly after they left. Garrett spent some time looking for his flip flop and was the last to go. “Make sure to arm your alarm as soon as I’m out the door,” he commanded.

  What an odd thing to say to someone you don’t really know.

  “Uh, thanks but I don’t have one. This neighborhood is super safe. It always has been.”

  “Yes, but you are a beautiful woman who is living alone. Anything can happen.”

  “All right Dad,” I teased. “I’ll make sure I lock the dead bolt tonight, just for you.”

  “Good girl,” he smiled. “If you decide that you want to install an alarm system, I have a friend who will cut you a deal.”

  “So that’s what this is about. You’re pimping alarm systems for your friend.”

  He raised both hands in the air. “Guilty as charged.”

  He left after I bolted the doors. I grabbed some blankets, settled on the sofa and fell asleep that night with a huge smile on my face.

  Joss and I borrowed one of Benny’s trucks and headed to Greensboro the next morning. Kurt had scheduled my second and final training session for Friday night and I wasn’t about to miss it so that gave me only two days to pack up my things, quit my job and settle things with my not so happy landlord.

  On our second night, I took Joss to the Cue Ball, a really cool bar that I had spent time in during the past few years.

  Two beers in and Zac Brown singing about toes, asses and beaches, Joss asked, “So, what do you think of Dillon?”

  “I’m surprised you waited this long to ask,” I smirked.

  “Well?”

  “He’s gorgeous but obviously has horrible taste.”

  “According to Kurt, Dana chased him for about a year before he bit.”

  I couldn’t help but comment. “And now she has her fangs in so deep that he doesn’t know which end is up.”

  “Aw, he’s just killing time with her.”

  “I don’t know, Joss, “maybe he’s some kind of masochist or something?”

  She stared at me for a minute and then shrugged. “Dana is a first rate bitch.”

  “Can I ask you something personal?”

  “Shoot,” she said, holding up two fingers at the waitress.

  “Are you and Kurt happy?”

  “Very, why?”

  I shrugged. “Just wondering.”

  She shot me a knowing look. “Kurt still thinks about him too, Ellie. He wonders what things would be like if Max hadn’t disappeared.”

  “So…he talks about him with you?” Kurt and I had stopped talking about Max shortly after his cell phone went silent. That was pretty much the last straw for both of us.

  “Max’s name still comes up, but not as often as it used to.”

  I took a sip of my drink. “Do you think you and Kurt will get married?”

  “God, I hope so.”

  The dreamy expression on her face made me wistfully smile. “I hope so too.” I changed to subject and told her all about my strange encounter with Garrett the other night. For some reason it continued to bother me. Joss agreed that it seemed odd but thought that he was just b
eing a nice guy. I wasn’t so sure.

  We made it home the next day with just in enough time for me to get showered before heading to Dragonfly. I was both excited and nervous because, well, it’s not every day that a girl gives up a well-paid marketing job to bartend. My aunt was probably rolling over in her grave right now. This made me smile.

  Taking a deep breath, I opened the door.

  Kurt was standing in front of the bar talking to Dillon. “Just in time,” he smiled, hugging me.

  “Can I have one of those?” Dillon asked.

  The suggestive tone in his voice made my heart skip a few thousand beats.

  Awkwardly, I leaned over and gave him a shorter version of the one I had just given Kurt.

  Of course, he took this as an opportunity and yanked me in tight. “Your hair smells good,” he whispered in my ear. “Mmmmm vanilla and… citrus?”

  Attempting, and failing, to extricate myself from his clutches, I tried not to do something rash, like bite him. Lowering my voice so Kurt wouldn’t hear, I said “Enough Dillon” and, just in case he didn’t take me seriously, reached for the sensitive skin under his arm and pinched.

  He reared back and rubbed the spot under his arm. Then, of course, needing to have the last word, said, “Oh Ellie, this is just the beginning.”

  So hot.

  Kurt, who had been watching the whole thing, scowled at Dillon. “Hey douche, don’t run her off before she even starts, okay?” Then, turning to me, asked, “When do you think you’ll want to work? Week nights, weekends, both….?”

  “I can work whenever you need me. I don’t want to dip into my aunt’s money if I don’t have to.”

  “Now that we have you and Garrett, Kurt wants to lighten his load,” Dillon informed, “so, that will mean you and me Ellie D.”

  Hot and Corny.

  I scrunched my nose at this, which only made him laugh. Ignoring him, I turned to Kurt. “Why do you want to work less?”

  “Uh, you know, plans and things,” he vaguely replied.

  Not appeased at all, I tried again. “Whatcha planning?” As far as I knew, Kurt and I didn’t have any secrets. Well, except for my secret lust for Dillon but that didn’t really count because it was all in my head.

  Dillon dramatically started humming the bridal march.

  Thinking that he was a marble short of the whole collection, I glanced over at Kurt, who looked guilty and it hit me. “Shut up!” I yelled.

  Dillon laughed. “By George, I think she’s got it.”

  I stuck my tongue out at him and then, squealing at the top of my lungs, launched myself into Kurt’s arms and hugged him tightly. “This is so awesome! When?”

  He gave me a stern look. “El, I need you to keep this on the QT for about a week, okay? Joss cannot find out.”

  “I swear and I’ll work whenever and help you with whatever and Iamsofreakingexcitedfor you!!!!!”

  “Breathe babe,” Dillon said through his laughter.

  It’s amazing how two simple words could cause such anguish. When I was with Max and something made me laugh really hard, which happened often, he would say those words.

  Breathe Babe.

  Closing my eyes, I let it wash over me and then, opening them back up, pretended that it never happened.

  Kurt, who could read me like a book, folded me into his arms and sighed. “Oh Ellie.”

  I smiled up at him. “I’m okay, really.”

  Dillon looked confused. “Ellie Belly, did I say something wrong?”

  “Naw,” I assured him, “it’s all good.”

  Quickly changing the subject, I turned back to Kurt. “Can I throw an engagement party here at Dragonfly for you and Joss? I’ll plan the whole thing.”

  He smiled. “Sure, Joss will love that. Now, how about we do this thing? The sooner D or I sign off, the sooner we have you working.” For the next two hours I worked with the boys behind the bar and had…a…blast.

  I spent two more days training with Dillon and Kurt before they deemed me fit to work. Then, I had to wait two more days before my first shift. My dad had left a couple of messages on my voicemail and I had just enough time to call him back before I needed to get ready for work.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Hi Samuel, it’s Ellie. Sorry I haven’t called you back. I was out of town and then training for work.”

  “That’s okay. I know this is a busy time for you.”

  He sounded tired. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes. Well, actually no. I wanted you to know that I am having some surgery this coming Monday.”

  “Oh?” This is the last thing I expected him to say. “Is it serious? Are you okay?”

  “It seems that I have a gall bladder infection that they can’t clear up, so they need to go in and remove it.”

  Oh no.

  The summer between ninth and tenth grade, Aunt Elizabeth had to have an emergency appendectomy. She was down for weeks. If I hadn’t been there to help, who knows what she would have done.

  “Do you have someone to take care of you?”

  “The doctor assured me that it wouldn’t be that bad. I just wanted you to know, you know, just in case.”

  In case of what? There’s no way he can do this alone. What the hell kind of doctor does he have?

  Looking at the clock, I realized that I needed to get in the shower ten minutes ago. I made sure that he knew that I was bothered by the prospect of him dealing with the recovery all alone and that we would be discussing it further, before I let him go.

  There is no way that he is doing this alone.

  Dillon was at the bar when I arrived.

  “Ellie Belly, you’re finally here!” he yelled over incredibly loud music.

  Garrett rolled in from the back. “Hey Ellie, you ready for your first shift?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be. What, in the world is this music?” It was loud, screechy and a definite headache producer.

  Dillon grinned devilishly. “This is Iron Maiden and that,” he pointed over to the wall, “is our new IntelliTunes Jukebox that was delivered yesterday. Isn’t she a beauty?”

  “Does she have a mute button?” I sweetly asked.

  He laughed. “I take it you are not a fan of metal?”

  I laughed with him. “Is that what you call it? I was thinking more like mind meld or migraine maker. It’s a bit too…. raw for me.”

  “But, that’s what makes it so good!”

  Garrett shook his head. “Do you like it?” I asked him.

  “Hell no. He’s all alone on this one.”

  I glanced over at the wall and then back at Dillon. “So, what is this Intelli thingy you wanted me to see?”

  “That,” he cooed, “is Sheila.” He pronounced Sheila with an accent so it sounded more like Shayla.

  I found this both funny and endearing. “You gave it an Australian name? How…sweet.”

  Sighing dramatically, he rolled his eyes at me.

  I looked over at Garrett. “Did he just roll his eyes at me?”

  He smiled. “Yep, just like a teenage girl.”

  Before I could get another dig in, Dillon hurdled over the bar, grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the jukebox. “Look, we load music from our iPod’s in here,” he pointed to a slot on the machine, “this way we will be able to hear a decent range of music. Garrett and I already loaded ours earlier. And here,” he pointed to another button. “All you have to do is scroll until you find the song you want and hit play, which is located here. If we make a playlist of songs to cycle through at the beginning of each night, we can lock it up so no one else can use it.”

  “Cooooool.”

  “I know, isn’t it?” He grinned like a proud papa.

  “How much of the screechy music do you have loaded?” I skeptically asked.

  “You’ll seeeee,” he sang.

  “I’m getting my iPod from my car.”

  Fifteen minutes later my music was loaded as well into the machine.
>
  “We’ll wait to hit play until our first customer walks through the door,” he told us.

  This was going to be fun.

  Approximately twelve minutes later, the door opened with the first customer and Train’s 50 Ways to Say Goodbye kicked off the night.

  “Really?” Dillon asked, scrunching up his face. This made me laugh. I wasn’t about to tell him that it wasn’t my song. Anything that irritated him was fair play.

  Game on.

  I was happy to see that both Polly and Lena were working. I hadn’t seen them since hot tubbing. By nine the bar was slammed.

  “Is it normally this crazy on a Thursday night?” I shouted to Polly while filling her order.

  “Honey, it’s crazy here every night, plus, word got out that Kurt hired a pretty new female bartender. That’s why we have more men than usual.”

  My jaw dropped when she said this. “Seriously?”

  “Yep.” She shifted her eyes down the bar to Dillon. “Hey, D,” she screamed, “what is this shit music?”

  “Why Polly it’s Locust by Machine Head,” he gleefully replied.

  Shaking her head, she grabbed her tray of drinks and shouted, “Later tater!”

  Fifteen minutes later, I noticed a group coming through the front door. Kurt, Joss, Harry and some guy I had never seen were heading toward the bar.

  “Hey El,” Kurt said, sitting on the stool in front of me. “I see Dillon has already filled the IntelliTunes with his awful music.” This was like the third song of Dillon’s in a row and my head was starting to hurt.

  “We all loaded songs on it. I hope you don’t mind?”

  Joss made her way over to us and, seeing that there were no empty seats, plopped down on Kurt’s lap. “Don’t mind what?” she asked.

  “That they loaded their music on already,” he told her. Then, turning back to me, said, “It should make the night interesting as long as it doesn’t scare off the customers.”

  “Ellllllieeeeee,” Harry trilled, plopping down next to Kurt. “I want you to meet Jordan.”

  Jordan had dirty blonde hair and green eyes. I noticed that both his left eyebrow and nose were pierced. He also had sleeves of tattoos on both arms and the back of his neck. I smiled at him. “Welcome to Dragonfly, Jordan, I’m Ellie.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ellie.” He smiled shyly at me.