PUSH: Ultra Alpha MMA Badboy Mafia Romance (Southside Brotherhood Book 2) (6 page)

They treated him quite well, but he took every opportunity to be fresh with the care staff and came very close to being asked to find other accommodations when he couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself.

He was one of the only friends Lilly had made since Topher and his father picked her up at the airport and ushered her into her golden handcuffs. Mac was sitting in the back of the limo that day next to his son, and there was something about his faded blue eyes and gruff manner that shielded a warm soul.

Soon, Lilly found in the old man a kindred spirit, a touchstone in this strange new life. A grandfather she never knew quickly became the only person that brought her joy.

She heard ding of the elevator, turning to watch as Mac flung his hands on the wheels to drive himself forward with a grimace as his faded blue eyes met Lilly’s.

“You said you would be here an hour ago,” he chastised with a stern stare.

“Don’t be such a bear. That son of yours keeps me locked up half the time working, and Colin keeps me the other half. It’s a miracle I don’t have scurvy, so back off, old man.” Lilly gave him her hands as she kissed his soft cheek.

“They’re assholes, both of them.” Mac frowned.

Lilly didn’t try to stifle her sad giggle of agreement.

Mac probably never did have much of a filter, but now he said they couldn’t do anything more to him, so he intended to say whatever he wanted until they put him in the ground. It made for ripe and lively conversation.

“Well, I can’t say I disagree.” Lilly fiddled with the hem of her skirt, pulling at it and trying to tuck it under her as she sat. She never could quite get comfortable.

“Stop fussing,” Mac said.

“Sorry.”

“You never told me the end of that story, when you said you broke your ankle.” Mac wheeled himself up the the table and motioned for Lilly to sit.

“Oh, well, there’s not much more to tell.”

“Uh huh, tell me anyway,”

“Okay, well, I was running from the McCleary twins — I told you that right?” Lilly waited until Mac twisted his lips and nodded. “Okay, well they used to throw cow manure at me when I walked home from school. Then, one day, they were chasing and I was running — and I stepped into an old chimney foundation and broke my ankle. When you are eight years old and boys are throwing cow crap at you, you don’t look where you’re going, you just go.”

Lilly stopped and twisted her lips to the side and pulled her ankles together.

“Okay, so most broken bones heel just fine. What happened to yours?”

She fidgeted under his stare.

“Connor didn’t think it was broken. So, I didn’t go see a doctor for three days, so when they finally tried to set it, it just didn’t grow quite right. So, I now have a constant reminder of the McCleary boys. That, combined with a general lack of nutrition, blessed me with the uniqueness of being an inch shorter on one side.”

“He’s an asshole, too. Your stepfather should have taken better care of you.”

“I guess so.” Lilly gave him a half-smile.

“Well, okay.” Mac sounded annoyed. “I ordered us early dinner. Baked macaroni and cheese and strawberries and cream — or you can have my ribeye and baked potato. I know you like the mac and cheese, probably because it reminds you of me.” He flashed her an playful grin. “I was born a few decades too late for you, but I may still have a few goes left in me if you ever decide to give in to my charms. May need to get my hands on some of those blue pills.”

Lilly forced a smile. “I need to have salad, no dressing, maybe some steamed broccoli.”

“Fuck that.” Mac grimaced. “Eat. You’re beautiful. I don’t know a real man who wouldn’t give one nut for a girl like you.”

“Colin will want to know what I ate. If it’s more than 500 calories, he’ll lay an egg.”

“Good, he needs to get whatever is up his ass
out,
let him lay a few eggs, do him good. I never liked him, even when his father and I ran things, that boy of his stirred the pot, always made things worse.”

“Well, he’s going to be my adoring husband, so I need to figure out how to get along with him.”

“I hate the way he looks at you. My Adeline and I were arranged like you, but I always treated her like a queen. We may not have loved each other at first, but we worked at it and before long, we managed to fall in love. We had a good life.”

His eyes drifted out the window, accompanied by the sadness that always came over him when he talked about his wife. Lilly asked him once how she died, but he just turned and made his way back to his room. Since then, she’d learned that subject was off limits.

A young woman came over with a tray and settled their food on the round mahogany table.

“Thank you sweetheart.” Mac reached over to give the worker a quick pat on her behind.

“You’re going to get yourself kicked out of here,” Lilly whispered as the young woman walked away with narrowed eyes.

“What the fuck do I care? Where else am I going to go? Move back in with Topher?
HA
! I’m fine right here. My bill gets paid every month; this place costs a fortune. The least they can do is let me get a handful of ass now and then.”

“You’re impossible.” Lilly laughed as she took a bite of her macaroni. “Oh my
gawwdddd
, this is so good.” She rolled her eyes, letting the creamy goodness tantalize her taste buds. “I’ve eaten too much celery lately; this is
ah-maze-zing
.”

“How’s your mother?” Mac asked.

“Hmmm, about the same. It’s so hard knowing she could be getting better care here. I’m working my ass off trying to finish this project so Colin will sponsor her and get her here.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could help. They took away my accounts. I can’t even sign my own checks anymore. There is nothing wrong with my mind; it’s just my body that’s falling apart.”

“I know. It’s okay. If I get this finished in the next month, Colin says he'll bring her here for the wedding, then pay for her treatment. There is a specialist at the University Hospital that is doing a trial of an experimental drug that seems to be having good results. Colin has a lot of connections. I just need her to hang on.”

They ate in silence for a bit, and Lilly couldn’t help think about Flynn, where he was and if he was okay. The image of him sitting in the chair in the darkness and the sound of his words, seared her memory.

I love you, too. I’ll never be able to tell you, but I do. That’s what I wanted to say.

“Eloise came to visit.” Mac broke into her thoughts.

“Yeah? That’s nice.” Lilly did her best to keep her voice even.

“Nice? Not really, Colin sent her over to deliver my medicine. She’s a gossip and a troublemaker. Stay away from that one. She’s got a burr up her butt when it comes to you.”

Eloise worked for the estate and Colin kept her in quarters on the third floor of the Tudor mansion secluded from the rest of the live-in help. Colin had her running errands for Topher now too. A gesture of goodwill he’d said.

Lilly knew better. She was just another set of eyes and ears for Colin.

She spoke to Lilly only when necessary. Lilly watched her stare at Colin, and it didn’t take long to figure out her services went beyond the usual household kind.

“Yeah, well, it’s all I can do to try to keep myself from Colin’s wrath, I don’t need to try to befriend my future husband’s current fuck.”

As a matter of fact, it would be great if he would just continue to fuck the staff and leave me alone. He doesn’t even find me attractive. Why can’t we just have a marriage on paper without the other accouterments? I’d rather stay a virgin forever than let him be the first.

“Well, as much as I try not to listen to her bullshit, she told me you had a little trouble last week.” Mac set down his knife and fork.

Lilly felt the catch in her chest. The fork in her hand shook slightly. Mac was the only person in the world she could talk to about Flynn.

She set her fork down and clutched the linen napkin over her lips for a long moment.

“I wanted him to die. Right then, something in me snapped, and all the hate and fear and disgust in my life came out on him.” Her voice shook as she looked up to see Mac’s watery, turquoise eyes on her.

His rough fingers pulled at her wrist until she yielded her hand.

“I wanted him to be gone. I don’t want to feel anything. I hate him for making me feel something; it only makes everything harder. But, I couldn’t do it. He wanted to die, too, I think. That’s why he came.”

“I’m sorry, Lilly.”

“Me, too.”

“I think he came for you. For the possibility. I know what that feels like. Men like us, in families like ours, we live a hard life. You have to be cold, leave any weakness behind. But, when someone grabs our hearts, it’s like an entire universe opens up that we never expected. It’s a shock. We don’t know what to do, and it can drive us to do things we never imagined.” Mac settled back into his chair his hand still warm on hers. “When he looks at you, that’s what I see. A boy stunned by the new world you’ve opened up for him and he has no idea which way to turn.”

“Maybe. All I know is love is for fairy tales with dragons and wizards and happy endings. Not for us. Not for me.” She raised her hand to push back a renegade curl from the center of her forehead. “I’ve never seen anyone get their happy ending in this life; it’s all smoke and mirrors and pain and disappointment. Better to just keep your expectations low and your guard up.”

Mac squeezed her hand.

“Oh, now you’re being dramatic. Cut the shit; you can be happy. You’ll find your way. I see it in you. Anyone can change; maybe Colin will change.” Mac screwed up his face with that last part.

“There is nothing about that man that will change. He’s as entrenched in his ways as the Presidents’ faces at Mount Rushmore. It would take a nuclear charge to shake his resolve. He’s a sociopath. This family and their ideas about marriage are from the sixteenth century.”

“Look, he’s still a man. Try not to spit in his face every chance you get. Try a different approach because the one you’ve been using—a hammer to the face and that snappy tongue of yours—isn’t the way to a man’s heart.”

That asshat has no heart.

Lilly knew if Mac understood the depth of Colin’s cruelty, he would never be guiding her down this path.

“Fine, can we talk about something else?”

“Fine. You have time for a game?”

Lilly glanced at the clock. It was 4:40 pm and Colin left this morning for Boston. The driver would certainly be reporting back as to her whereabouts every minute, but Mac seemed to be on the approved list of places she could go.

“Sure. How many moves before checkmate?” she asked.

The bet was no longer who would win or lose, but on how many moves it would take before she cornered him.

“Ten, if you can control that mean streak and take pity on your grandfather.”

Lilly stood up to grab the chess set from the game cabinet across the room as the young worker cleared their early dinner plates.

The great room filled with soft music and the sound of light chatter from the residents in the dining area.

A blanket of sadness covered her as she looked across the jewel toned, textured fabrics of the sofas and chairs to see a couple sitting next to each other, holding hands. The man’s cane settled next to his leg as the woman leaned onto his shoulder, and he gently kissed the top of her head.

He loves her. I can see it, even now. They have to be eighty or ninety and they’re still in love. What is it about this family? It’s never about love. It’s always commerce. Loyalty, sacrifice for the greater good. I’d rather live in a shack and scrape for every meal and have what they have than live in a castle with what waits for me.

“Ready?” Lilly looked down to see Mac smiling and tapping his diamond pinky ring on the tabletop.

“Sure. Too bad we can’t handicap you and tie half of that brain behind your back.”

“How about I close one eye and use my mouth instead of my hands? That make you feel better?”

“I’ll still lose, but I’d like to see that.”

“Just go, your move.”

Chapter Eight

Jesus fucking Christ, I feel like I’ve been in solitary for a year.

Flynn struggled to choke down the eggs and bacon Eloise brought him for breakfast. The last two days were rivers of sweat and chills, dreams and reality all mixing into a kind of surreal stew.

“Can I get you anything else?” Eloise’s stoic countenance told him she was here doing a job and could give less than half a shit if he really needed anything.

“I’m good.”

Without a word, the slight, serious young woman headed out the door and across the courtyard back to the main house.

Fuck me. At least I can draw a fucking breath without feeling like some psychotic grandmother is stabbing me with hot knitting needles.

The guest house of the estate would be an ample family home in most suburban neighborhoods. It sat unused the majority of the time, and Flynn found it humorous to find decades-old family photos accenting the corners and tables still in use around the home's tastefully decorated interior.