Forever Moore (Moore Family Book 1) Read online

  Jake looks back at Scott. “Shut up, man. I need to focus.” He then goes back to lining up his shot.

  Jake leans down to kiss his ball for luck. “Make sure all the holes get proper tongue there, Jakey-poo.”

  Without turning to look at us, Jake calls back, “Oh, believe me, my tongue is a pro when it comes to all three holes.” We can’t help but burst out laughing.

  Jake starts as if he is going to throw the ball. “And there he goes. Oh, no, never mind,” Scott says as Jake pulls the ball back, then realizes he is only doing practice throws. “Ah, now, here he… nope, sorry false alarm again. Come on, dude, throw the damn ball already.”

  Jake tosses the ball down the lane. It curves to the right going for the 7-pin. The ball slams into the pin with a mighty force. We all watch and, as if in slow motion, the 7-pin flies to the left and knocks down the 10-pin. We sit there, slack-jawed in disbelief, as Jake jumps up and down—celebrating and pumping his fists in the air. “Take that, bitches!”

  “He cheated. I don’t know how he did it, but he cheated,” Scott mumbles under his breath. In all the games we ever played growing up, no one has ever picked up a 7-10 split.

  Jake returns a moment later with a shot in his hand. Scott is the unfortunate soul who is required to take down the first blizzard for the night. This is how the game usually evens out. They suck and get us so wasted we can barely see straight. It gives them a chance to catch up.

  Robbie is up to bowl next. I take the opportunity to check my phone for the hundredth time tonight. I know Tilly is out with Keith right now, and I am just waiting for her to call or text, telling me she is home and is okay. I seriously hope that asshat doesn’t try to pull a fast one on Tilly. I will fucking beat his ass if he does.

  “Whatcha doing?” Jake inquires.

  “Checking to see if Tilly messaged,” I reply, then immediately curse at myself as the guys point at me in unison, ordering me to take a shot. “Fuckers.” I knock one back like a good sport, but Scott seems to notice me still scowling at my phone.

  “What’s going on?” he asks, taking a swig of his beer. “I swear, every minute you are checking your phone.”

  “Ha, nice try. I am not falling for that one again.” I don’t want to get too wasted… in case Tilly needs me.

  Robbie is done with his frame and comes back to all of us. “Okay, timeout. Seriously, is something up? Every time you look at your phone, you get this weird somber expression on your face. Are you and Tilly fighting already?”

  “What? No. We are fine. It’s just…” Damn, I know the second I mention his name, they are going to flip. They don’t know the whole prom story—well, unless Tilly eventually told them, which I doubt. But her brothers never liked Keith, and they sure won’t like the fact that he is having dinner with her. They will probably kick my ass for letting her go with him, and then go kick his ass for forcing her in the first place. “Alright, so you know how Tilly wanted to talk to the tourism board about getting me some sort of official town marketing position?”

  Scott nods. “Yea, wasn’t that meeting yesterday? Did you not get the position?”

  “Yea. No. Well, kind of. It is all fucked up.” Sighing, I drop my face into the palms of my hands, rubbing my temples.

  “I don’t understand. Did you get the job or not?” Robbie asks.

  “Tilly brought up the position during the meeting. And Keith, who is apparently the head of the committee, asked to talk to Tilly afterwards.”

  “I forgot fucknuts was on that damn committee,” Robbie growls.

  “Yea, well, Tilly said he wasn’t super keen on me taking the position. I didn’t have adequate experience or some shit.”

  “That is fucking BS. You have a bachelor’s in marketing and have spent the past decade traveling the world for a prestigious travel magazine. They should be fucking licking your balls, begging you to take the job,” Scott says, pacing back and forth. He understands how much this job would mean to Tilly and me.

  “So, yea. Apparently, he needed the night to think it over and wanted to discuss things during dinner tonight with Tilly. I have been waiting to get some sort of text, telling me she is home or she needs backup.”

  “Hold up!” Jake hollers. “You allowed Tilly to go on a date with this douchecanoe? Are you a fucking idiot?”

  “First off, this is not a date—it is a business dinner.” It sounds even lamer than when Tilly said it. “Second, I didn’t allow Tilly to do anything. She put her foot down and said she was going to go to this dinner. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t have it.”

  “Where are they?” Robbie inquires as he starts to put his boots back on. I look up and notice Jake and Scott are doing the same thing.

  “The steakhouse on Elm.” When she texted me that, I shook my head laughing. Of course, he took her to the fanciest, most expensive restaurant in town.

  “Alright, I ordered an Uber. They will be here in five minutes. Scott, you go closeout the tab and let's go pay fucknuts a visit,” Robbie orders as he gets up to leave a tip at the table.

  “Not that I am against rescuing Tilly from the assclown, but what is the plan? Show up there and beat his ass?” I stand, crossing my arms and scolding them like children. “If we show up there and start a fight, Tilly will get pissed—especially, if our actions prevent me from getting the job.”

  “Fine, good point. We will show up and get a table and eat dinner, like the civilized gentlemen we are. If we notice any shenanigans, then we drag his dumbass into the back alley and beat the living shit out of him,” Robbie counters.

  ∞∞∞

  Twenty minutes later we arrive at the steakhouse. Glancing around, I do not see Tilly anywhere. Maybe she is already home? I look at my text messages and still nothing. I try calling her and after a few rings, it goes to voicemail. I shake my head at the guys, letting them know I haven’t heard from her still.

  Jake approaches the hostess giving his award-winning, panty-melting smile. “Hi…” He looks down at her name tag. “Bethany, such a lovely name. Would you mind if I called you Beth?”

  “All my friends call me Beth,” she flirts back. God, she is young. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still in high school. But whatever, we need information and Jake is a professional flirt.

  “Well, Beth, since we are friends. I was hoping you might be able to help me with a small problem?”

  “Oh, sure. Anything,” she replies, twirling her long auburn hair in her fingers.

  “You see, my sister, Tilly Moore, was supposed to be here this evening with Keith McCalester, and we came here to join them but notice they are gone. Do you happen to know when they left?”

  She looks down at her seating registrar, tapping her pen on the hostess stand. “Hmm… Oh yea, I remember them, such an adorable couple. Your sister sure got herself a true gentleman. But I’m sorry, they left here almost an hour ago. But I do have a table open, if you four are still interested in dinner?”

  Couple? Gentleman? They left an hour ago? This makes no fucking sense. Scott puts his hand on my shoulder, telling me to calm down.

  “Sorry, darling. We would love to stay for dinner, but we need to meet up with my sister and her boyfriend.” Jake winks at me… just to piss me off.

  “Oh, okay. Well, here.” She slips him a piece of paper, presumably with her phone number on it. “Call me, if you feel hungry. I can always squeeze you in.”

  Jake pockets the number and smiles back at her. “Thank you, darling. I might take you up on that. I frequently find myself famished.”

  Robbie already has an Uber on the way to pick us up. At this point, all we can do is go home and hope Tilly is there. If she is not, we will have to find wherever her and fucknuts went.

  Chapter 21

  Matilda

  This whole night has been nothing but a disaster. Keith took me to the priciest restaurant in town and reserved us the back, quiet, closed-off table. While one would think that the privacy is good for a busi
ness meeting, everyone knows it is essentially a lovers’ nook. This way, you and your date can make-out discreetly in the dark, without disturbing the other guests. It was also one of those round booth-type tables, the kind that had Keith and I sitting practically next to each other. I tried to sit as far away from him as possible, but he took any opportunity he could to scoot closer.

  During dinner, he practically refused to discuss the job. He constantly interrupted me to comment on the decor, or tell me how delicious the food was and then offer me a bite of his steak. To any casual observer, it appeared as though we were a couple on a special romantic date. It made me feel sick to my stomach. I could barely eat the chicken and wild rice soup I ordered. He tried to force me to order something bigger, more extravagant. “Money is no object,” he had said. While I would have loved to order the most expensive thing on the menu so I could fuck with him, I honestly couldn’t stomach a big dinner.

  He said we could discuss the job over dessert and ordered us a couple slices of their dark chocolate cake. I protested, letting him know I was full but he insisted that “business was best discussed over dessert”. I finally gave up the battle, but I did not understand why we were taking the dessert to go. When I inquired about this, he just chuckled and told me “to be patient”.

  So now, here we are, parked on top of the hill that overlooks the town below. Basically, this is the town’s “lovers’ lane”. I feel like such an idiot. I figured we were all adults now. High school was left back in high school. But here we are, Keith basically bullying me into a date. I’ve tried to text Jax to tell him where I am, but of course, there is no fucking signal up here.

  “What are we doing here, Keith?” I am not even trying to hide the annoyance in my voice anymore.

  “Come on, Matilda. Let's go enjoy our dessert,” he says, grabbing the cake and a blanket from the back seat. I reluctantly follow him to where he lays down the blanket and pats for me to sit beside him. But I continue standing. I am done with his games. “You can stand if you want, but I imagine trying to hold your cake and eat it with that cast is going to be challenging.”

  I plop to the ground and grab the piece of cake. “So, about the position—”

  “Isn’t it beautiful out here?” he interrupts.

  “Yes, now, about Jackson have you—”

  “Wow, the skies are so clear tonight. Being up here, at this angle, you can see so many stars,” he interrupts again. “I remembered how much you loved stargazing. I was thinking with the sky being so clear tonight, you might enjoy the view.”

  I am sure some woman out there might find this whole situation romantic—the local rich handsome bachelor takes her out for a fancy dinner and then stargazing while eating dessert. But this is not a date. This was a business meeting. Keith ignoring that, makes him an asshole and this whole situation, an abuse of power.

  “Yes, the view is nice. But, Keith, I am here to talk about the job position for Jackson. I am not here to stargaze.” I might sound like a bitch, but I don’t care anymore. I just want to go home and back to Jax. “If you are not intending to discuss the job position, then I would kindly ask that you take me home now.”

  He sighs. “I brought you here because I was thinking this could potentially be a great marketing photo spot for the town. You know, a ‘come stargaze here and enjoy our local culture’ type thing.”

  Great, now I feel like an ass. “So, does this mean Jackson has the job?” I ask, hoping this night wasn’t a total waste.

  “I haven’t quite made up my mind on that yet,” he provides.

  “Okay, well, tell me what your concern is about hiring Jackson and let's see if we can figure something out.” This is what I am here to do—get Jax this damn job so he can stay in town with me and still do something he loves.

  “Hmm…” he ponders. “Why are you so adamant on Jackson having the position? I won’t deny his photography skills. But we are not interested in hiring a photographer. We are interested in hiring a social media and marketing director.”

  “First of all, while Jackson’s focus has been photography, in college he majored in marketing. Secondly, the type of photography he has been doing is to market for tourism. He knows what that market is looking for. And finally, Jackson grew up here. He knows the town and the people. Who better to represent and showcase us, than one of our own?” I’m out of breath by the time I finish listing all of the reasons Jax is perfect for this job. Keith would be an idiot to deny him the position.

  “I can see you are very passionate about this… about the town,” he says, with his voice getting low. Before I can understand what is happening, Keith leans over. Capturing my jaw, he turns my head towards him and puts his mouth to mine.

  I work to push him away but his other hand goes behind my head, holding me close. His mouth opens and his tongue licks my lips, seeking further access. I try to turn my head to the side, but the bruising grip he has on my jaw is locking me in place. I want to tell him to get the fuck off of me, but I don’t want to risk opening my mouth and allowing him entry.

  I reach my hands between us and lay them on his chest—an almost loving action. But I only do it to feel around for his pecs. Finding what I am looking for, and with all my strength, I dig my nails through his shirt and into his flesh. I twist his nipples as hard as I possibly can. As I was hoping, he removes his mouth from mine to scream; and his hands leave my head and face to protect himself. I use the opportunity to quickly standup and get away.

  “What the fuck is your problem, Matilda?” I can see the irritation and fury radiating off of him as he stands. Looking at his chest, I notice a few droplets of blood from where I dug my claws into him.

  “No, Keith, what the fuck is your problem? What made you think that you had any right to kiss me?” I say, crossing my arms over my chest while trying to close myself off from him and keep my distance.

  “Well, you’ve been giving me ‘fuck-me’ signals all night,” he says, taking a step closer to me. I take a step back. “Besides, I was thinking you could use your passion to help me understand how Jackson is the best candidate for the job.”

  “Stay the hell away from me.” I put my hand up and take another step back. There’s no way I am letting him get close enough to touch me again.

  “Oh, stop being dramatic, Matilda. It was just a little kiss,” he says nonchalantly, and as though he didn’t just hold my face still, while he assaulted me with his mouth.

  “Did you not notice me trying to pull away from you? The last thing I would ever want is for you to kiss me, Keith. You fucking disgust me.” I spit on the ground at his feet.

  Keith’s eyes go dark and his face contorts in rage, as he charges at me again. I try to back away but I end up being trapped between him and the car. Even though he is not exactly as tall as my brothers or Jax, he is still significantly taller than me.

  “Look, Matilda, we both want something. You want your little boyfriend to get a job. And, well, I just want a taste of you.” Keith raises one of his hands to gently caress my cheek. “Don’t make such a big deal about it, Matilda. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. If anything, you are getting the better end of the deal. I can promise you that when I am done with you, you will be so satisfied that you’ll be begging me for more.”

  “I am not interested, Keith. There is nothing in this world that could compel me to ever allow you to touch me,” I say, trying to escape the confinement he has me in. In response, he only steps closer, pressing his hard length into my stomach.

  I am not sure if it is the situation, the stress, or what. But all of a sudden, a wave of nausea comes over me. I try to hold it in but I can’t. One moment he is leaning in to kiss me again. And the next, I am projectile vomiting towards his face. Although it was not planned, it had the desired effect. Keith immediately steps away from me, completely repulsed by the situation.

  “What. The. Fuck. Matilda?” he hollers, spitting vomit from his lips and trying to wipe his forehead.

&nb
sp; Under normal circumstances, I would apologize or even feel embarrassed, but the scumbag deserves what happened to him. Instead, I wipe my mouth and regain my composure. I am actually feeling way better after expelling the dinner from my system. I quickly go, grab my purse, and check my phone. Still no signal, but that’s fine. I will start walking home and as soon as I do get service, I will call for a ride. There’s no way in hell I am getting in a confined space with him again.

  “Matilda!” Keith yells. “If you walk away from me, the deal is off the table and I promise I will make you regret it. Jackson will never have a place in this town.”

  I stop and consider his words. No way would Jax want this job… if he knew what price it would come at. I quickly turn back to face him. “I am not afraid of you, Keith. We don’t need your fucking job.” Then I turn and walk away. I can hear him yell more in the distance but I ignore it, because I don’t fucking care.

  About a half mile away, I finally get a signal and call Letty. While I know I should call Jax, I just need a moment to process whatever the hell just happened and to think of how to explain this to him. I know he is going to be furious and likely want to murder Keith. But I can’t allow him to get thrown in prison over that scumbag.

  As we drive home, Letty has a million questions and I notice a dozen missed calls and texts from Jax and my brothers. I am assuming that now, they are all panicking and wondering where I am. I will have to deal with that when I get home. I know Letty wants answers but I really just don’t want to talk about it yet. I am still in shock Keith had the nerve to proposition me; but even more so, I am shaken he thought he had the right to lay his lips on me.