Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hendrix
"I can't believe Maisie agreed to stay with your ass after you kidnapped her twice." Easton shook his head from where he sat at the large table across from me. Owen sat two seats to his right and Nolen was at the other end of the table typing away like a madman on his computer.
I had no idea where Maverick, Lex, or Aaron was today since they had yet to stop in.
"Haven't you heard, villains are the new heroes. Everyone loves them." I laughed at my own explanation.
"If you say so." Owen shook his head. "I bet Kati and Annalee are down at the bakery right now getting a completely different story. Maisie is probably telling them it's Stockholm syndrome or some other shit."
I wasn't worried about what these guys thought. I knew deep down Maisie loved me, even if she wouldn't tell me.
"Laugh it up, but in the end, I got the girl and nothing else matters."
They both grinned. "In all seriousness, we're happy for you. Maisie is great and she already gets along with Kati and Annalee. Which might be bad for us. They'll be ganging up on us in no time." Easton cringed.
It wouldn't bother me one bit if they did gang up on us. I was just happy Maisie was talking to other women. I watched her from the moment I entered town and the first thing I noticed was the lack of social life she had. Other than talking to customers at the bakery, I doubt she ever spoke to the people of Willow Creek. I was hoping, now that she planned to stay, that would change.
"Uh . . . Hendrix . . . we got a problem." I whipped my head over to Nolen who was focused on the screen in front of him. "Matthew just entered the bakery through the back door."
I was out of my seat and running out the door before anyone could say anything else. I passed Kati and Annalee as they sat on a bench just outside our building. I didn't bother to answer when Kati asked what was going on. My sole focus was on getting to Maisie as fast as possible.
I was glad Lex had gotten the cameras up before the bakery opened for the day. Otherwise I never would've known Matthew was paying her a visit. I threw open the back door and came to a skidded halt just in time to hear Maisie's disbelief.
"Matty?"
"Yeah, sis. It's me."
There was a squeal and then running feet. I stepped through the open door and watched as my girl threw herself into her brother's waiting arms.
Several footsteps rushed in behind me and I turned to see Nolen, Easton, and Owen all ready to have my back.
"Go back to the office, guys. I got this."
I didn't think Maisie or her brother wanted witnesses to their reunion. It would be hard enough to convince her that I needed to stay for whatever conversation Matty wanted to have with her.
All three men nodded their heads but took their time backing away from the door. I hoped I was making the right decision by asking them to leave. My gut was telling me Matthew wouldn't hurt his sister.
Matthew really did look a hell of a lot like his sister, except where she was short, he was tall. He almost had the boy-next-door look going on, with short hair and no tattoos, and he proved that he was both observant and protective when he tucked Maisie under his arm and glared at me. "Who's this?"
There was a huge smile on her face when she looked up at me and I hated that he was the one to put it there instead of me. "This is Hendrix." She beamed. "Hendrix, this is my brother, Matty."
Both her arms were wrapped around his middle and it took everything in me not to stomp over there and yank her into my arms. Brother or not, I didn't want another man's hands on her.
"It's nice of you to stick around this time instead of dropping a note." I didn't keep the sting of my words out of my tone.
"I hadn't planned on showing my face, but I realized I couldn't come all this way and not see for myself that Marmar was okay."
"I'm better now that you're here."
Well, that stung. I kept my expression neutral though. We could talk about that when her brother wasn't around.
"I can't stay but I needed to tell you to your face. It's important you stop digging into what happened. There are dangerous people out there and I don't want them knowing who you are."
"What dangerous people?” I growled. “If there’s a threat, my team and I need to know about it."
Matthew looked me in the eyes when he answered. "I can't tell you, but just know, everything I’ve done was to keep my family safe."
"What happened to Atlas's body? Hendrix told me they never found it. This whole time I thought I needed to disappear because my fingerprints were all over the scene. If they aren't looking for me, then why didn't you ever try finding me?" I could hear the hurt in her voice. It made me want to wrap her up but she was still across the room in her brother's arms, and unless I wanted to look like a possessive jerk, I needed to stay right where I was.
Wait, since when did I care what people thought about me?
Since you're trying to win over the girl, dumbass.
I was starting to question that thought process.
"I can't tell you but you need to trust me, it's safer for you to stay away. From what I can see, you've built a great life for yourself here. You should be enjoying it and not worrying about me."
Maisie finally stepped out of his arms but only because she was putting up a fight and that meant hands on her hips and sass in her tone.
"You're my brother. Of course I'm going to worry about you, and how did you find me anyway?"
"I know people."
"You know people? Is that seriously the only answer you're going to give me right now. What happened to telling each other everything, huh? We never kept secrets and now you come here expecting me to just believe every word you say because that's the way of it."
"Trust me, Marmar. It's better this way. I hate keeping secrets from you but it's better than the alternative."
"And what's the alternative, Matthew?"
Oh, this was getting good. Where was the popcorn when I needed it? Maisie had no problem laying into him. It was kind of a turn-on actually.
"You ending up dead!" Matthew hollered back.
And that was a boner killer.
I happened to prefer Maisie stayed alive, so anyone even mentioning there was a possibility for her to be harmed ticked me off.
"Why the hell would she end up dead?" I butted in.
"I can't tell you that. All I can say is that my secrets are what's keeping Margaret safe."
"I go by Maisie now."
Matthew's eyes softened. "Yeah, I heard that, but to me you'll always be my Marmar."
It was easy to see in that moment that Maisie was going to agree to anything her brother said. He wielded that nickname like a damn sword and knew exactly where to hit to ensure she caved.
I, on the other hand, wasn't as easily convinced. Something wasn't right. The information wasn't adding up, but until I had all the pieces, I couldn't make sense of what I was looking at.
"Are you staying in town for a while?" Her eyes shouted she hoped that was the case.
"I'm sorry, I can't. I wasn't even supposed to stay this long."
Her crestfallen look was a punch to the gut. Last night she had admitted all she wanted to see was her brother, but now that she had, she wanted more. Twelve years was a long time to be away from someone who was practically the only friend she had growing up.
"Well, I'm glad I got to see you again. I was moping around all day because I missed you."
"I’ve missed you too, sis, and I swear once this is over, I'll be back. I never expected it to take this long."
I watched the tearful goodbye and knew I'd be spending the night comforting my woman.