August: Calendar Girl Book 8 (11 page)

Max stood and paced. “Is she going to be okay?” He looked like a caged animal. His form was taut, hands clenched into giant fists, and his stance ready for battle. He didn’t even know us and he was on the defensive, ready to go down swinging to protect his new family.

“Yes, she will be fine. I imagine this is a heavy blow to her. Same for me, but we’re used to surviving difficult things.”

That was the wrong thing to say because he scowled and looked at me, his pale eyes a frosty ice-green shade. “Not anymore. You now have our family money and connections.”

I frowned. “We don’t want your money or connections.”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You’re getting it. The attorneys are already working to change over the forty-nine percent to you.”

“What? You’ve got be kidding?”

He stopped and put his hands on his hips. “Nothing’s changed, Mia. The will is iron clad. My father obviously didn’t know about Maddy, but you’re getting nearly half the company.”

“I don’t want it!”

“You don’t want to be part of my family?” His voice was strained, pained even.

“Of course, we’re going to be family. But I don’t need your company to be your sister. Besides, what about Maddy? She’s your real sister!” My tone was harsh and unrelenting.

“So are you! Half or a hundred, it’s all the same to me.”

I closed my eyes and tried to think, but there were too many emotions swirling around my head. “I want to give my half to her then.”

Max laughed. Full on tipped his head back, held his stomach, and belly laughed, overtaken with hysterics. “You’re going to give billions of dollars’ worth of stock and all that comes with it to our little sister?”

I cringed and my lips tightened. “She’s the only person that matters.”

He huffed. “Yes, you’re working your ass off to pay her schooling, and going from place to place to be whatever a stranger needs you to be in order to pay off your father’s debt but you won’t take money that’s rightfully yours? You are somethin’ else, sugar.”

“I’ll tell the lawyer myself.”

“Too late. I’ve already told the lawyer to draw something up to split the company three ways. Soon, you and Maddy are going to be very rich women, but it will take the next six months to a year to satisfy the conditions set in the will, and then we’ll both have to sign over a portion.”

“But Jackson wasn’t my father. Why should I have any stake in this? Divide it between the two of you.”

He shook his head fervently. “Not what Dad wanted. He knew who you were, knew you weren’t his, and he wanted you to have it anyway. Now if he’d known Maddy was his, I know in my heart of hearts that he’d want it split among the three of us. That’s just the type of man he was. Honor and family meant everything to him.”

“You’re not going to change your mind, are you?” I retorted.

“Nope.”

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Bossy, obstinate, unwilling to see reason?” A slow smirk slipped across my lips even though I didn’t want it to.

He smiled, sat on the bed, and picked up my hand. “When it comes to my family, you’d better believe it.”

T
he buzzing phone
woke me up from a dead sleep. The kind of sleep that happens after popping a couple of Benadryl. I grappled for my phone and answered without checking the caller ID. It was probably Millie. I’d shot her text, telling her to send me the details of the next client, but to give me a few days in Malibu before I left. She’d agreed, and I hadn’t even bothered to check who my new client would be. It didn’t seem to matter before, but she was probably checking in with me since I’d be flying to Malibu tomorrow. Maddy and Matt were heading back to Vegas today on Maxwell’s private jet with the new information that she had a brother, was about to become a rich woman, and the knowledge that the man who’d raised her was not her father.

“Hello, hello, is Mia Saunders there?” A nasally voice broke through my sleepy bliss.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, yeah. I’m Mia Saunders, who is this?”

“This is Wilma Brown from Kindred Hospital and Convalescent Homes in Las Vegas, Nevada.”

I sat up as if a pail of ice cold water had been thrown on me. “What’s the matter with my dad?” I asked, rushing the words and needing to hear that he was okay.

“Ms. Saunders, I’m afraid your father took a turn for the worse. He contracted a viral infection that worked its way through his nervous system. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any previous medical files as your father hadn’t had much in the way of medical treatment, and we gave him the strongest antibiotic possible to counteract the infection.”

Oh, no, oh, no. I could hear the in the tone of her voice that this was bad. Really fucking bad. “Is he going to be okay?” I cut in.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Saunders, but the antibiotic ended up being something he was allergic to. He seized several times before we could give him additional medication to counteract the seizures and the allergic reaction. He was also allergic to the ant seizure medication and he went into cardiac arrest.”

His. Heart. Stopped.

His heart stopped.

His heart…stopped.

No matter how many times or different ways the phrase rolled around in my head, it still had the ability to rob me of breath. “Ms. Saunders? He’s alive, but he’s in critical condition. It doesn’t look good. I’m sorry to say, but it’s touch and go right now. You and your family should probably come as soon as possible.”

“What?” He was fine the last time I saw him. Maddy just told me he looked great, that the doctors were baffled as to why he hadn’t woken up.

“He may not have a lot of time. You’ll need to come soon if you want to say goodbye.”

“Thank you. I’ll be on the next plane. Please, do everything you can,” I begged.

“We will. Goodbye, Ms. Saunders.”

Critical condition. It doesn’t look good. Come soon. Say goodbye.

I closed my eyes, and the words moved across the back of my eyelids like the scrolling newsfeed at the bottom of the television on the local news stations.

No matter how many times I saw the words, repeated them silently over and over, the end result was still the same. My father was dying.

M
ia’s journey
continues in September Calendar Girl.

“
W
hat the hell
is going on? You haven’t answered my calls, you didn’t show up for your flight, and you certainly didn’t show up in Tucson, Arizona where client number nine was expecting you!”

I tried to form a reply, but nothing came out. I should say sorry, should say something, but I didn’t have it in me to care. “Millie…”

“Don’t you Millie me. You are in deep shit, young lady! If you read the fine print in your contract, you’d know that if you stand the client up, not only do you lose the hundred thousand dollar fee, you owe them a hundred thousand for their trouble!”

Moving as fast as my tired legs would take me, I left Pops’s room and went down the hall to the outdoor garden area. It was really early so there wasn’t anyone out just yet. “Are you telling me I now owe some rich motherfucker a hundred thousand dollars!!” I roared into the phone.

“You’re yelling at me?” Her voice was laced with venom and just as lethal. “You got yourself into this.”

“I had no choice! Pops is on his death bed!”

“So you just up and leave and not tell me? Mia, had I contacted the client in advance, this might have been avoided. Right now, you are two hundred thousand dollars in the hole. You did not have enough in the master account to send Blaine your monthly installment.”

Oh, no. My body started to shake, and my legs couldn’t hold me up any more. Quivering, I slumped into the nearest bench. “I missed my payment…” I choked out, fear controlling my tongue.

“Yes! I’ve been calling several times a day. Finally I got in touch with Maddy, though she’d ignored my calls until today.”

“My phone has been off. It’s been touch and go with Pops for the last week, Millie. He’s still nowhere near out of the woods. I can’t leave him.” I ran a shaky hand through my hair and tugged on the roots—the instant bite of pain bringing with it a clarity I was desperately trying to wrap my mind around.

“I can’t bail you out, Mia! My money is tied up in the business and a new venture I just sank everything into. You’re going to have to talk to one of your rich friends. Maybe one of the ones who paid the extra fee?” she suggested, as if that were so easy. Sex and money. That was the name of her game.

Ask Wes or Alec for two hundred thousand dollars. Absolutely not. No way. “I’ll figure something out.”

C
ontinued in September Calendar Girl
. Available now for purchase.

Books and Coming Soon by Audrey Carlan

T
he Falling Series

Angel Falling

London Falling

Justice Falling

T
rinity
Trilogy

Body (Book 1)

Mind (Book 2)

Soul (Book 3)

C
alendar Girl Serial

(A twelve month serial. New installments will be released every month throughout 2015)

J
anuary (Book 1
)

February (Book 2)

March (Book 3)

April (Book 4)

May (Book 5)

June (Book 6)

July (Book 7)

August (Book 8)

September (Book 9 - Estimated Release 9/2015)

October (Book 10 - Estimated Release 10/2015)

November (Book 11 - Estimated Release 11/2015)

December (Book 12 - Estimated Release 12/2015)

T
he Indulgence Box
Set
- (Released 6/30/2015)

“A million words of romance” box set that has something for everyone. Fifteen best-selling authors with fifteen
full length
novels all compiled together to give every romance reader something they are looking for.

A
ngel Falling

London Falling

Justice Falling

Body (Book 1)

Mind (Book 2)

Soul (Book 3)

(New installments will be released every month throughout 2015)

January (Book 1)

February (Book 2)

March (Book 3)

April (Book 4)

May (Book 5)

June (Book 6)

July (Book 7)

August (Book 8)

September (Book 9)

October (Book 10)

November (Book 11)

December (Book 12)

T
o my editors
, Ekatarina Sayanova and Rebecca Cartee with Red Quill Editing, LLC…your knowledge knows no bounds. I am constantly surprised at what the two of you together can do. Thank you for making August shine! (www.redquillediting.net)

To my extraordinarily talented personal assistant, Heather White (aka The Goddess), thank you for allowing me to vent, moan, groan, complain, squeal, freak out, and more without losing your stride. You give me peace of mind, and that’s a really beautiful gift. Thank you for all that you do every day. Love you always, doll-face.

Any author knows they aren’t worth their weight unless their story is backed by badass betas. I have the best!

Jeananna Goodall—My pre-reader and beta who has the best responses to wild plot twists. I love blowing your mind. So glad I could do so with this installment. Love to love you lady!

Ginelle Blanch—Not only do you find the quirkiest errors that would make me look stupid, you’re the perfect meter to how the readers are going to experience the story. I adore that you give me that. Thank you for your honesty and always being straight forward. It will keep me making great books!

Anita Shofner—I’m not sure where your talent comes from, but if I had to guess I’d go with God-given. Thank you for sharing your gifts with me and helping to make this the best book it can be.

Thank you to the ladies at Give Me Books and Kylie McDermott for spreading this book far and wide into the virtual social world!

Gotta thank my super awesome, fantabulous publisher, Waterhouse Press. The fact that I can pick up the phone and call the CEO and discuss my books is mind-boggling and beyond wonderful. Thank you for being the non-traditional traditional publisher!

T
o the Audrey Carlan Street Team
of wicked hot Angels, together we change the world. One book at a time. BESOS-4-LIFE lovely ladies.