Maybe This Time

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CHANTAL
FERNANDO

Published
October 2013

Cover design © Arijana Karčić, Cover It! Designs

Edited by Arijana Karčić

MAYBE THIS TIME
is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events
portrayed in this book either are from the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, establishments, events, or location is purely coincidental
and not intended by the author. Please do not take offence to the
content, as it is FICTION.

Trademarks:
This book identifies product names and services known to be
trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their
respective holders, The authors acknowledges the trademarked status
in this work of fiction. The publication and use of these
trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the
trademark owners.

Copyright ©
2013 Chantal Fernando

ISBN: 1492904260

ISBN-13: 978-1492904267

All rights
reserved.

Thank you to my
family!

My
husband
and
kids
who support my dream, my sister
Tenielle
who I wouldn’t be able to function without. My baby
sister
Sasha
. My sister in law
Stacey
, who has always
been there for me, and is blessing me with another niece. My
parents.

I love you
all!

Thank you as
usual to
Ari
at
Cover it Designs
. I could gush about
this girl all day long- she is that amazing. I’ve never met anyone
who is so willing to go out of their way to help others before. I
don’t think I know anyone who works harder either. Love you
Ari!

Yes, I’m a huge
fan girl.

Kara
Brown
- I would be lost without you. Seriously. You put so much
effort into helping me and I’m so grateful.

Jay
Mclean
- Love our daily chats! Thanks for always being there to
listen to me rant, or answer my many questions about completely
random topics. You’re also pretty damn hilarious ;)

Ahkash
-
Thank you for doing my site for me. You’re still my pole.

Haajira
-
Thank you boobie for reading all my books

Sixteen years and counting!

A huge thank
you to all the
blogs
that support and promote me! Here are
just a few:

Tsk Tsk What to
Read, Promiscuous Book Blog, Three Chicks and Their Books, Jenee’s
book blog, Nerd Girl, Mommy’s Late Night Book-up, Sassy Mum Book
Blog, Forever Me Romance, One More Chapter, Natasha is a Book
Junkie, B’s Beauty and Books Blog, Best Books, Smexy Bookaholics,
Book Addict Mumma, Jacqueline’s Reads, Love Between the Sheets.

To my beta
readers.

Kara Brown,
Stephanie Knowles, Alice Priday, Antoinette Smith, Aileen Day and
Tawnya Peltonen.

I’m thankful
for each of you.

To my three
little alpha males in training.

“My heart lies
vulnerable outside my chest.” – Kresley Cole

This isn't
exactly how I expected to meet him for the first time.

I wait outside
the jail, nervously glancing around as if someone could mug me at
any second.

And they
probably could.

Finally, after
an hour of waiting, he walks out. He's tall and muscular, with a
familiar head of light brown hair. His stride is confident, sure. A
smile quirks his full lips when he sees me, and he instantly
quickens his pace. As he steps right in front of me, I stare into
hazel eyes that are so different from my own dark brown.

“Summer,” he
says, his eyes crinkling with warmth. I huff out a sigh, trying to
look put out, but then fall into his embrace the second he opens
his arms to me. I squeeze him tight, not wanting to let go.

He smells like
cigarettes and leather, but I couldn’t care less.

“'Bout time
you came home,” he says, rubbing my back.

“I know, I
just felt guilty,” I say truthfully, pulling from his embrace. If
my mother was alive, she wouldn’t want me to be here.

“You have no
reason to feel guilty. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

I nod and
watch as my brother gets into my car.

“You gonna
tell me why I had to pick you up from jail?” I can’t stop myself
from asking.

“Misunderstanding,” is all he tells me. It’s a bit late for me to
play the big sister role, so I don’t ask him anything else. Instead
I sigh, and ask him for directions to his house.

Xander is only
a year younger than me, but this is the first time I've met him in
person. I can’t help glancing at him from the corner of my eye
every now and again, taking in his every movement, his every
feature. His hair is long, almost to his shoulders, and he has a
dimple in his chin. He's covered in tattoos, with two full sleeves
and even a few peeking out from under his collar. His knuckles are
split open, like he’d gotten into a fight recently.

I've waited
for this day for years, but now that it’s here I’m not quite sure
what to say or do.

“You might
wanna keep your eyes on the road,” he says, amusement lacing his
tone. I don’t answer him, but turn my head forward. Xander leans
forward and puts the CD player on. Drake’s ‘Started from the
Bottom’ starts to play, and I can feel his amused gaze on me. He
skips to the next song, which happens to be ‘How Do You Want It’ by
2pac. He turns the music off and the rest of the drive is
quiet.

“Turn left
here, and keep going.” I follow his instructions, glad for the
distraction.

“Right here,
Summer. It’s the third house on the left,” he says, pointing.

“Okay. Dad
won’t be here, will he?” I ask quietly after we pull up in the
driveway to a large brick house.

Not what I was
expecting at all.

Xander flashes
me an unreadable look. “No, he’s not here.” I exhale in relief. No
way am I ready to see him just yet.

“Open the boot
and I’ll get your bags,” Xander offers. My brother is chivalrous,
interesting. Looks like my mother was wrong about him in so many
ways.

I lean against
the car, playing with the rips in my distressed jeans as he takes
out my bags. He starts to walk towards the house, dragging my pink
leopard print suit case with him. I bite my lip, trying not to
laugh at a rough looking man covered in tattoos with such a girly
accessory. Xander turns around when he realizes I’m not following
him, and raises an eyebrow in question.

I reluctantly
take a step towards the house.

Towards my new
life.

My temporary
new life, or so I’ve been telling myself. Xander opens the door
wide for me to enter, and I hesitantly step in behind him.

This is the
house that Xander grew up in, with my father.

Our
father.

And I’d never
even seen it until today. My greedy eyes take every detail in,
until my gaze stops on Xander watching me closely.

“Your room is
the first on the right.” I don’t know what he saw when he looked at
me, but it caused him to soften.

“Okay,” I say,
heading towards my room.

“I’ll go out
and get us some dinner. Make yourself at home, Summer,” I hear him
say behind me.

I nod, even
though he can't see it.

The house
might be older, but inside it looks modern and welcoming. My room
is spacious, especially compared to my old room. My mother may have
been financially stable but there was just the two of us, so we
shared a three bedroom apartment. It was in a good area, but the
rooms weren’t large like the one I'm standing in right now. The bed
is a queen size, surrounded by a wooden heard board and side
tables. There's a dressing table with a huge mirror, and two sets
of drawers. Opening the wardrobe, I find more drawers, and space to
hang my clothes. A lot of space. There's an unopened set of pink
sheets for the bed in the cupboard, along with new pillows and a
doona. I grin, imagining Xander shopping for these items for
me.

After a long
shower, I dry myself and tie my brown hair up in a messy bun.
Wrapping the towel around myself, I walk from the bathroom to my
room.

I’m almost at
my bedroom door when I scream.

I pull the
towel higher, and take a few steps back, looking around for a
weapon.

Anything.

“Fuck, I’m
sorry. I’m not gonna hurt you,” comes an amused drawl. He puts his
hands up in a calming gesture.

“Who are you?”
I demand, narrowing my eyes.

“Dash!” I hear
Xander call out as he walks around the corner. He pauses when he
sees us, and shoots a glare at Dash.

“What the fuck
are you doing staring at my sister like that?” Xander practically
growls. I look at Dash, who is indeed eye-fucking me, and not being
subtle about it one bit. Dash throws a crooked smile my way, before
turning his violet coloured eyes at my brother.

“You didn’t
tell me how fucking hot your sis was,” he says in a deep rumble. I
roll my eyes and walk around him and into my room, slamming the
door behind me. I hear his masculine chuckle, along with Xander
hissing something about Dash keeping his dick in his pants.

I dress in
worn jeans and a black tank top, and head out into the kitchen. I
see Xander and Dash in what looks like a heated conversation, all
hushed whispers and hand gestures. Feeling a little awkward, I
almost want to head back into my room.

“Come and eat,
Sum,” Xander says when he sees me. He pushes a pizza box towards
me, and I also notice some beers on the table. Dash’s gaze is on me
as I open the pizza box and take out a giant slice of pepperoni. My
favourite.

“Does Jack
know she’s here?” Dash asks Xander, his eyes still glued to me.
Xander runs his hand though his hair, looking a little worried.

When Xander
rang me, asking me to move in here with him, I told him that I was
reluctant because of my father. He doesn’t know me, at all, and it
feels awkward that he would suddenly want to be in my life after
all these years with only making an appearance once a year at most.
The truth was, I wanted to be with Xander. I’d wanted to get to
know him my whole life, and when he rang me, telling me that if I
didn’t get here he was gonna drive up there to get me himself, I
decided it was time. Time to break free.

There was no
point staying at home anymore, in my small rental apartment where
mum and I used to live. So I quit my waitressing job and left
everything and everyone I'd known my whole life behind. All for my
brother.