Sammie pulled up a few minutes later, wearing jeans and a hoodie.
She greeted me with a head tilt. “Robinson. Everything quiet?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Seriously, quit the ma’am shit.”
“Everything’s fine. Sammie. They’ll be done soon.”
Sammie turned to face the street. “You’re covering Madi?”
“I am.”
She laughed. “Does she know?”
“She does, and she’s not happy about it.”
“You think she’ll try sneaking out the back?”
“It’s not like I won’t notice.” I held my phone up, the video feed open. “Plus her purple Jeep stands out.”
“It’s pretty awesome. I doubt Madi will do anything to piss off her brothers. She may argue about their overbearing ways, but she loves them and won’t add to their worry.”
I agreed.
We caught the last half of Madi’s sentence when the door behind us opened. “If you need anything.”
“I will,” Alice answered.
Sammie and I stepped away from the door and turned towards them.
She’s fucking beautiful. She’d braided her hair, but a few strands had escaped. I itched to brush them off her face.
You have a job to do, Robinson.
And that job did not involve touching Madi Sheppard.
My boss’s daughter. My other bosses’ sister.
Not to mention, I didn’t want a relationship. Madi may have initiated our one-night stand, but she had family woman written all over her. And I couldn’t give her that.
“Matt. Sammie.” Madi said, greeting us with detached professionalism.
No doubt she’d already had it out with Jamie, and would probably read Jack the riot act when she got home. I understoodtheir protective streak, though; family meant everything to them.
I’d be the same way with my sister if she’d lived.
But she hadn’t. She’d died way too young.
She shouldn’t have, but she did. Leaving me, just like our mother had.
I hated myself for lumping my sister in with my mother. Disease took her life, unlike my mother who left because she couldn’t deal with the stress of taking care of a sick child.
My father didn’t leave physically; no, he just checked himself out of my life by spending his days at the bottom of a bottle of the cheapest booze money could buy.
Sammie disrupted my pity party when she said, “Hey, Madi. Hi Alice. You ready to go home?”
“You don’t need to follow me home, dear,” Alice tutted.
