Sample excerpt from "Maybe This"!

(Here's a short section from the story where Jay McCallan--who is very protective of his sister--confronts a guy he thinks is dating his little sister. Too bad Kellie actually lied to her brother about it! You'll have to wait for the whole story to find out why!)

Tate was about to go through the list of care and maintenance, dos and don’ts, but Liz came into the room and the look on her face was…confusing.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

She blinked a couple of times before shaking her head. “Um, nothing, I guess. There’s just someone here to see you. Someone…important,” she emphasized.

He had no one “important” in his life that would visit him at work, so Tate didn’t know who the hell she was talking about.

“I’ll finish up here,” Liz said, and she literally shoved him toward the door.

“What the fuck—?”

“Just…go.”

He left the room, shaking his head, but made his way to the lobby. The only person in there was a dude he didn’t know, standing near the door and leaning against the wall. Tate’s first impression was that he didn’t look too happy, and then his second thought was what the hell trouble did he get himself into to have some chick’s boyfriend come after him.

“You’re Tate?” the guy asked.

For some reason he looked familiar, and Tate had to scramble to figure out why. But he just nodded his head and answered, “Yeah, I’m Tate. And you are…?”

The guy came across the room and stood in front of him. They were about the same height and build and he looked badass as fuck, so if there was going to be some kind of altercation here, Tate could only assume it was going to be a messy one.

“I’m Jay, Kellie’s brother,” he answered.

Jay. Kellie. He had to take a few seconds to make the connection after he finally recognized who this guy was. He’d never caught what Kellie’s last name was--Rayne had never said--but he had no idea she was…a McCallan?

Fine. Whatever.

“Uh, okay. Nice to meet you,” Tate finally said. “Can I help you with something?”

Jay shook his head. “Nah, just thought I could help you out with something, man.”

Tate studied him for a second, sensing some kind of threat barely hiding underneath his tone.

“Well, okay, and what’s that?” he asked, going along with it for now.

“Just wanted to introduce myself, if you know what I mean. She’s the only sister I have and she means the world to me. Got it?”

Tate assessed the situation for a moment. He was so confused, but if Jay McCallan was coming here to threaten him, he was also completely intrigued. He never saw this coming, but he was totally game.

“That’s cool,” he replied. “Do you approve her tattoo artists for her? Take her to the dentist? Screen potential hairstylists? Gynecologists? Make her dates fill out resumés?”

A sarcastic smile spread on Jay’s face. “Ah, a funny guy,” he nodded. “You haven’t slipped through the approval process, trust me.”

“Approval process? And what am I being approved for? She hasn’t even come back in here, so I don’t know why you’re up my ass. I’ve seen her once, and that was over a month ago. I figured she found someone else to do her ink.”

The smile disappeared from Jay’s face. “What do you mean? You mean you two…?” He shook his head and scoffed as he stared across the room, but then he smiled again like he’d realized something crucial. He rubbed a hand over his face and said, “Okay, message received.”

“Hey, I’m not sending any sort of message, I’m just—”

“No, not you, my sister,” Jay cut in. He sighed and turned for the exit. “Sorry to waste your time.”

Tate felt the weight of indecision as he watched him reach for the door. Maybe this was a spoon-fed opportunity that he didn’t know he needed.

Copyight © 2014 Hadley Quinn

All Rights Reserved