Maybe This Time Page 2

  “Stop being a dick to her,” Xander warns, causing my lip to twitch.

  “Jack wants to see her,” I tell Xander. I glance towards what I assume is the door to her room. I see Ryan eyeing me curiously, and I hate that he knows me so well. I don’t normally give a fuck what others think of me, of my scar. But when Summer was looking at me, I couldn’t help but lose my temper. When there are two exact versions of a person, and one is scarred, who do you think the women go for? Don’t get me wrong, I get my fair share of those who want to take a ride on the wild side. Summer doesn’t seem like that type, though. I don’t think she’s anything like the women I’m used to.

  I don’t know how to feel about that.

  “I’m not gonna force her to go, she just got here,” Xander narrows his eyes at me. He loves his sister, that much is clear. I know they've never met before, but Jack told me Xander had managed to write and call her over the years. Her mum was some vindictive bitch that wouldn’t let them near her, ever since Jack cheated on her. Not only did Jack cheat but the woman, Daria, got pregnant with Xander. Summer’s mother was pissed and took Summer away for good. There’s probably more to the story, but that’s all that I know.

  “Tell Jack I'll bring her when she’s ready, he’ll understand,” Xander says.

  “Fine, you explain,” My eyes dart to her door once again.

  “Someone’s gonna need to stay here with her, I don’t wanna leave her alone,” Xander says.

  “Reid can stay, he’s already seen Jack,” Ryan offers, a smile playing on his lips. Xander looks at me warily, but then gives a slight nod.

  “Fine, let’s go. I’ll go and say bye to her,” Xander says, standing up and walking over to her room.

  “How long have we got?” Dash asks the room.

  “Two weeks,” I reply. Dash nods and stands up, heading out the front door.

  “Two weeks, huh,” Ryan says.

  “Yeah, I don’t know how Jack is gonna keep Summer away from this shit,” I say, looking down at my feet.

  “We’ll make it work,” my brother says, forever the optimist.

  “We’re gonna have to.”

  Summer

  I walk out of my room after unpacking everything in my suitcase. I freeze when I see Reid sitting on the beat up leather couch, slowly sipping on a beer.

  “Why are you here?” I ask bluntly, walking to the fridge to get a bottle of water.

  “Xander wanted someone to stay and keep you company,” he replies, eyes still on the TV.

  “So he chose you?” I scoff.

  “You got a problem with that?” he grates out, sounding irritated.

  “No, sir,” I say sarcastically, closing the fridge with a push of my hip. Reid instantly turns his head, staring at me blatantly.

  “What?” I ask, walking over to the couch and taking a seat opposite him. Reid rubs his temple, like I’m giving him a migraine, and doesn’t answer. My gaze roams lower, down to his muscular arms. He looks so strong, so masculine. I almost sigh in appreciation when I see how his T-shirt dips into a v, showing off a hint of his toned chest. Yum.

  “Yes, we all know I have a fucked up face, you don’t need to stare,” he snaps, averting his eyes to the TV. A muscle ticks in his jaw, his posture stiff.

  “Actually, I was thinking how sexy you are,” I say honestly, giving him another once over. He turns to look at me, surprise evident on his face. His eyes widen, and then narrow, as if he finally gets what I said.

  “But even your sexiness doesn’t cover for your personality, or lack thereof,” I say in a saccharine sweet tone.

  He studies me for a second. “You’re gonna be trouble, I can tell,” he mutters under his breath.

  “Me? I keep to myself, how can I be trouble?” I ask, scowling.

  His lip quirks into a crooked smile. “We’ll see.”

  “Cryptic much?” I say, narrowing my eyes a little.

  He changes the subject. “Your brother and father love you, a lot. Don’t hurt them, Summer.”

  I gape. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  He gives me a look that says he’s anything but kidding. “If you leave all of a sudden, they’re gonna be heartbroken. They’ve been talking about you ever since I’ve known them.”

  “Right, so they are the victims in all of this.” My voice sounds bitter even to my own ears.

  His eyes soften. “No one’s gotta be a victim. I’m just saying, they are good men, and you are their weakness.”

  “I highly doubt that,” I say. “I’ve wanted to meet Xander my whole life. He’s the reason I’m here.”

  “And Jack?” he asks, studying me.

  “You’re nosy, you know that?”

  He shrugs, and tilts his head to the side. “I protect those I care about.”

  “No one needs protecting from me,” I say defensively.

  “Maybe so,” he says, turning his head. “They seem to think you’re the sweetest thing, but I know there's some fire in you.”

  “You’re making assumptions based on what, the whole thirty seconds you’ve known me?”

  His expression doesn’t change, but he stands up. “Do you want something to drink?”

  I blink once. “Umm, sure.” I watch as he goes into the kitchen, and opens the fridge.

  “What would you like?”

  “Apple juice, please.” He pours me some juice and brings it over to me, handing me the glass. Our fingers touch as I take it, and my body instantly reacts, my fingers tingling. As soon as I grasp the glass he pulls his hand away, frowning slightly.

  “Thanks,” I say, sipping the drink.

  He looks at me once more, his blue eyes not missing a thing. I suck in a breath, feeling those eyes penetrate my defences. He opens his mouth to say something, but stops himself. Instead, he gives me a half shrug and returns his gaze to the TV. When he doesn’t attempt any more conversation, I mumble a goodnight and head to my room.

  Chapter Two

  I wake up the next morning and stare at the ceiling. I spent the night tossing and turning, unable to rest. I pick up my phone from the side table and send a quick message to my best friend back home, Lilly. I hear someone moving around in the kitchen, so I drag myself out of bed, desperate for some caffeine.

  “Morning,” I mumble to Xander, who is standing shirtless in the kitchen, drinking some orange juice straight out of the carton.

  “Morning, sis. Coffee?” he asks, offering me a grin.

  I nod eagerly. “Yes, please.”

  I watch as he makes me a coffee, asking how I like it. “Black, please,” I tell him.

  “Same as me,” he says, smiling. He slides it towards me.

  “Thanks.” I grab the cup and hold it between my hands. “You work out a lot?” I ask him, as I blow on the coffee.

  Xander flexes his biceps, and I laugh. He’s pretty ripped.

  “Yeah we have a small gym set up that we all use.” He puts the carton back into the fridge.

  I wrinkle my nose at him. “Where do you work?” I ask, realizing I really don’t know much about him.

  Xander suddenly looks uncomfortable. “Jack has a business or two, I work for him.”

  “I see.” But I really don’t. What sort of businesses would my father own?

  “What do you wanna do today?” Xander asks me, his eyes sliding to mine.

  “I needa find a job.”

  “You don’t needa find work straight away, Summer, I can take care of you,” he says in a gentle tone.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s meant to be my line,” I say, my lips twitching.

  “Why, cos you’re a year older?” he says, amusement lacing his tone.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m the man, sweetheart. You’re my sister, I'll take care of you,” he tells me earnestly, his eyes now serious.

  “I need to find a job, Xander, what else am I gonna do around here all day?”

  “You could study something, find something you like,” he offers.

&nb
sp; “I do wanna study something, but I’m gonna work, too,” I tell him, taking a seat on the bar stool.

  “You’re stubborn,” he says with a sigh. “Another thing we have in common.”

  “Really? And here I was thinking the only thing we had in common was our extremely good looks,” I wiggle my eyebrows at him.

  He tilts his head back, laughing. “That too, Summer, that too.”

  “What’s so funny?” Reid asks as he walks into the house. I instantly stiffen, aware I’m wearing only short shorts and a cami.

  Great, just great.

  “Does no one knock when they come to this house?” I ask. No one answers.

  “Go get dressed, Summer,” Xander says quietly, his tone demanding. I roll my eyes, but walk to my room, grabbing my clothes to change into. I head for the bathroom, taking a quick shower and brushing my teeth.

  I dress in a figure hugging pair of jeans and a peach knit sweater, giving my hair a quick iron so it stays in place. My hair is neither straight nor curly, so I choose to go with one or the other.

  When I walk out, conversation ceases. I see Dash is now here as well, leaning against the wall, knee up.

  “Where’s Ryan?” I ask, since he seems to be the only one missing. I see Reid scowl, his eyes flashing.

  “Don’t worry your little head, he'll be here,” he snaps, his expression shuttered.

  Okaaaaaay, then.

  “Charming,” I mutter to myself as I walk towards my brother.

  “Morning, Summer,” Dash says, his eyes roaming all over my face and body.

  “Hey, Dash.” I offer him a small smile. He looks hot wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black T-shirt.

  “I’m gonna do some grocery shopping,” I tell them, searching through my handbag for my car keys. The pantries are practically bare and the fridge only has leftover pizza, beer and some limes.

  Which I assume are for tequila shots.

  “Wait, I’ll come with you,” Xander says.

  “I think I can handle going to the store without a babysitter,” I tell him, giving him my best ‘I dare you to say otherwise’ look.

  “Yeah, but do you know where it is?” He smirks, leaning back against the fridge.

  “Surely it can’t be that hard to find,” I say, rolling my eyes. I finally find my keys and pull them out.

  “I can take you,” Dash offers. My eyes find Reid, who looks delicious himself in a snug pair of worn jeans and a black sweater. I swallow hard. His body is just phenomenal. Broad shouldered and lean hipped, the man has the perfect amount of muscle. When I glance up into amused blue eyes, I cringe. The last thing I want is for him to think I’m interested in any way.

  I clear my throat and tear my gaze away from him. “I’ll be fine, but thanks, Dash,” I say, waving to them before walking out of the house.

  I glance around the neighbourhood quickly, before getting into my car. Pulling out my phone, I look for the nearest supermarket, which turns out to be only about five minutes away. I frown when I see the neighbour peeping over the fence, blatantly staring. He quickly ducks when he sees me looking. I shake my head and drive off, deciding to detour and get familiar with the area.

  Reid

  “You sure it’s safe for her to go out alone?” I ask Xander, not so sure about it myself.

  “She’ll be fine, it’s just down the road and no one knows who she is.”

  “Yet,” I say, knowing it’s what everyone else in the room is thinking.

  “No one will mess with her,” Dash says confidently. Too confidently, and that’s his weakness. I try to keep one step ahead, while Dash relies on his reputation way too much. It’s true, I’m probably being paranoid. But we do have enemies, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

  “That a gamble you willing to take?” I ask the room. Xander curses, and instantly goes into his room, coming out minutes later fully dressed.

  “I can go keep an eye,” I offer. The minute the words come out of my mouth I regret them. It’s not my job to babysit her. Nor should I want to. Fuck.

  “I got it, she’s my sis, my responsibility,” he says, but he’s wrong. She’s all of ours, because Jack made her be. Xander leaves in a hurry, now worried about Summer. I’m sure she’s fine, there’s just a few things she doesn’t know about this town.

  About her father.

  About us.

  I think someone needs to update her, and quick. But hell, what do I know? This is their decision to keep her in the dark, and it’s not really my business. I suppose if she was mine, I’d want to keep her safe and away from all of this, too.

  Then why do I feel slightly guilty?

  “Where’s Ry?” Dash asks, looking up from his phone, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “At the gym, I’m heading there now before work.” Ryan and I own our own bar, Knox Tavern. It’s just a small pub, but it’s ours and we do okay for ourselves. I’d like to think my mother would be proud of us if she were around.

  “Alright. I’m gonna stick around and wait for Summer.” He's trying to appear casual, but I see the way his eyes flicker to mine before he looks back down at his phone.

  “You know she’s off limits, right?” I can’t stop myself from asking.

  “Do you?” he replies.

  “Not my type,” I answer without hesitation. Dash mulls my comment over, before nodding in agreement.

  “You’re right about that. Summer’s a good girl,” he says, a wistful smile on his face. It pisses me off. Fuck! She’s only been here one night and she’s fucking with my head already. With my control.

  So what if she’s hot? I’ve had a lot of hot. Sweet, not so much, but only because I generally go for women who know what they're getting into with me. They have no misconceptions of love, romance or forever. They use me, and I use them. We both have a good time, no harm, no foul.

  Summer seems like the romance kind. The kind of woman who would try to change a man like me.

  I’m not changing for a pretty face.

  No matter how stunningly beautiful that face is.

  Summer Kane isn’t for me.

  Summer

  “What’s up with your neighbour?” I ask curiously, as we carry the last set of bags from the car. I might have gone a little overboard with the groceries, but I figure I'll end up cooking for all the guys anyway. They seem to be a permanent fixture in the house.

  “What do you mean?” Xander asks. I found him in the car park of the supermarket I was at, and he said he wanted to make sure I found it okay. My brother is turning out to be a really sweet guy. How wrong my mother was.

  “I dunno. Nothing,” I tell him, looking over the fence. Xander shrugs. The only person still in the house is Dash, who is texting on his phone, a movie running in the background.

  “I’m gonna head to the gym. You gonna see Jack today?” Xander asks, his tone nonchalant, but his eyes plead with mine.

  “What’s the big deal?” I ask, wondering why everyone’s being so pushy.

  “Come on, he hasn’t seen you in two years. He wants to see you, Summer.”

  “And a few more days won’t kill him,” I say, before leaving the living area.

  My father is a tough subject for me to discuss. I don’t know him at all. Sure I'd seen him over the years, once a year to be accurate. My mother let him visit every year on my birthday and then I wouldn’t see him again until the next. Even when he did visit, the look on my mother’s face made me wish he'd just leave. She'd get angry and moody, but mainly bitter. My mother hated my father, but she loved him, too. I know that, because so much hate had to stem from somewhere. When he cheated on her, he turned her love to hate.

  Her adoration to scorn.

  My mother loved me, but she also loved to remind me daily what a piece of shit my father was for what he did to her, and what a menace Xander was. I don’t know where my mother got her information from, but she always had news for me about my brother and all the trouble he was getting into. It used to hurt, a
lot. I don’t think my mother knew how it affected me, because she was consumed by her hate. But it hurt me every day to have her say cruel things about my own flesh and blood, about the brother I hadn’t even met but already loved. She let her bitterness take over and control her, and then she passed away without loving another man.

  Jack Kane was it for her.

  Apparently he was it for a lot of other women, too. I sigh heavily and lie down on my bed on my stomach. I need to find a job, and stat. I have a bit of money saved away, plus what's left of my mother’s insurance money, but I can’t rely on that for long. I was saving it for a rainy day. My father had also opened a bank account for me, with all the child support he paid over the years, but I hadn’t touched that. Not one cent.

  To be honest I don’t really know how to feel about it. My mother came from a wealthy family and money was never an issue growing up. She used to tell me that the best thing a man can do for his children is love their mother, and he didn’t do that for me. He didn’t love her, at least not enough, and I paid the price.

  I turn on my e-reader and continue to read about my book boyfriend of the week, Jake Andrews. If only there were men like Jake Andrews in real life. A knock on the door pulls me from my book. I puff out a breath before calling out, “Yeah?”

  The door opens, and in walks the man of the hour. Jack Kane, my father. I sit up on the bed, surprised.

  “Hey, Summer,” he says softly, his eyes bright.

  “Hey, dad.” I stand up and walk over to give him an extremely awkward one armed hug.

  “You are so beautiful, baby girl,” he says, shaking his head in awe.

  “Thanks,” I answer shyly. He looks the same. Tall, standing at about 6’1, with light brown hair and dark eyes, my father is one of those men who will always be handsome. He must be about forty five now, but apart from a few laugh lines, he looks younger than his age. He's wearing jeans, and a leather jacket over a black T-shirt. He probably rode his motorcycle here.

  “You didn’t wanna see me?” he asks, looking worried.