More Than Forever (Providence Series Book 2)

by Moore,Mary B

  “Look, I can’t say why just now, but it needs to be done, Cole, so can you do it or do I need to call someone else?”

  “You’re missing a minor detail, dude; I don’t have her keys! Sure, I could break into it and all, but I’m thinking that the person who bought it might have an issue with having to jimmy the lock every time they wanted to get in. And it’s not like you can fit the shit needed to do it in a pocket or a purse. Well, maybe some women could cause some carry around frigging enormous purses, but it wouldn’t look good on the ad saying…”

  “COLE!” Uh oh, I’d pissed off the bear. I thought I had a valid point, though. “Shut the fuck up and listen. Maya has a key to Isla’s house; go get it and the key to the car will be in the dish on the unit just inside the door. Can you fucking do that or not?”

  “Well, seeing as you ask so nicely, my liege…” His sigh was enough to tell me he’d reached his breaking point, but when had that ever stopped me? “I’ll do it, but I’m not selling it without Isla’s say so, dude. I love my balls! They bring me luck.”

  “Thanks. Check it over and make sure it’s safe. I’ll speak to Isla and get her to call you about the other thing.”

  “Okay darling, have a great day at the office. I love you!” I said as I hung up on him and turned to the office to clean up and change my shirt before I went to go and see Maya to get the keys. Damn, I loved pissing him off.

  Brett

  Pulling up in front of Luke’s house, I reached for the door handle to get out the car when Cooper stopped me.

  “Something doesn’t feel right.” He was scanning the street and area around us.

  Looking around, it all looked perfectly normal to me, but the tension coming off of the guy beside me told me he didn’t agree.

  “It’s just a quick in and out. Luke wants me to go into his office and get a box out of his safe; you can come with me.”

  Still looking around, Cooper shook his head. “Give me the details and I’ll go in. You stay in the car.”

  The car was a specialized one that Coleman had got from a contact of his; it was

  ‘everything proof’ according to him. It was instinct and pride that had me about to argue it out with Coop, but then I saw exactly how tense he was. Cooper was a pretty relaxed guy, so when he got like this people took notice.

  Writing it all down, I locked the doors and watched him walk up to the door and put the key in the lock. He looked back at me and did another sweep of the street before opening the door. Just as he pushed it open, there was a deafening explosion and Cooper was thrown away from the door and onto the grass as Luke’s house literally blew up in front of me. Bits of it hit the car so hard that it almost tipped over.

  There was random debris flying everywhere and pieces were hitting Cooper’s prone body; I couldn’t get out of the car while it all fell without getting hit by it either. It felt like it went on for hours and smaller bangs were coming from inside the property. All I could do was watch in horror as Luke’s house burned and Cooper continued to lay on the ground not moving. I couldn’t even see if he was breathing.

  Getting my cell out of my pocket, I rang Coleman, but there was no answer. Of all the fucking times for him to be busy!

  Looking out of the windows, the falling debris was stopping so I got out of the car and ran over to Cooper. He still wasn’t moving on the grass, but I could see his chest moving shallowly. Thank fuck he was alive. There were injuries all over him with blood coming from different places and blisters instantly forming on the areas that had been burnt when he opened the door.

  Grabbing my phone out of my pocket again, I dialed 911 as I checked Cooper over and told them everything I could about his condition. They confirmed that they’d already had calls requesting Fire and Rescue and that an ambulance had been dispatched as a formality alongside it so one was actually closer than I realized. I hung up once I heard the sirens getting close and dialed Coleman again.

  Hanging up as the ambulance, fire crew, and police pulled in, I dialed Coleman again.

  "Yea...What the fuck? Why the fuck am I hearing sirens?" He barked at me.

  “There was a bomb,” I shouted down the phone at him and turned to look quickly at Luke’s house that was just one big ball of fire now. “I don’t know if Cooper’s gonna make it!”

  Cole

  God, Isla’s home was boring. I’d had a snoop to see if I could find anything juicy or interesting and there was literally nothing. So disappointing!

  I could hear sirens as I walked out of Isla’s house and looked in their direction to see smoke rising into the sky far away from where I was. There had been a bang while I was in the house, so maybe someone had left their gas on?

  Walking toward Isla’s car, I pressed the ignition button on the key fob. I fucking loved those, it was like Knight Rider!

  I had a second to appreciate the purring sound coming from her BMW Z4 before it exploded and a wall of heat hit me that hard that I went flying backwards. The worst pain I’d ever felt in my head took over before I passed out.

  Chapter

  SIX

  Isla

  Hearing Luke say that he’d never think that I would have got pregnant on purpose settled me a bit, but I still worried what everyone back home would think and say. Would they agree with him or would they assume that I was just like Calista?

  Ever since they’d come into my life, Calista and her mom had done everything they could to point out how inferior I was to Calista. When I’d left Piersville, it had taken me a long time to get even a small bit of confidence because of them. My Dad didn’t give a shit, the second he found Jodie and got rid of Mom, I ceased to exist in his eyes, which made it easier for them to target me. The only good thing that I’d had back then was Gram and Luke, and even that had fucked up.

  Going over to the sliding glass doors, I looked at the view across Singapore. It really was beautiful and I could feel myself starting to relax the longer I looked.

  I was pregnant…with twins, Luke’s twins; I still couldn’t believe it. Would I ever have figured out that I was pregnant or would I have been the kind of fucking idiot who didn’t realize they were pregnant until they got to the hospital with cramps and pushed out two babies?

  I heard Luke talking in the other room and wondered what he was doing. I think I believed what he was telling me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to fully believe and trust it. We had so much history and he’d hurt me so badly, not just once, but twice. Now he was telling me he loved me and that he was going to fix what he’d broken? I would never ever keep him away from the babies. He was their father, but could I let him close to me, too?

  I couldn’t stop the thoughts whirling around in my mind, so I never heard the footsteps coming up behind me and screamed when arms went around my waist.

  “Sorry, Angel, I thought you’d heard me,” Luke said as his hands gently rubbed my belly. “Are you okay?”

  I was just about to answer him when there was a knock at the door. “That’ll be the doctor. You go and lie down while I let her in.”

  Turning around, I watched him walk slowly to the door. He had a more pronounced limp now than he’d had earlier and his whole body just looked stiff like he was in agony. It hit me again how close I’d come to losing him and the fact that the twins would never have gotten the chance to meet their Daddy. What had happened still made me sick to my stomach, and as far as I was aware, they hadn’t caught the person responsible yet, and that scared the shit out of me. What if they came after him again and actually killed him?

  Thinking about it like that put all of this into perspective for me. I’d almost lost him. I might never have had these moments with him and watched his face as he looked at the ultrasounds of the babies and heard their heartbeats. I might not be able to trust him, but I was so grateful that he was awake and walking around. Hell, I was grateful he was alive.

  “Isla, this is Doctor Lo.” Luke was standing next to a petite Doctor who looked like a little doll. Go
d, she was gorgeous.

  “Hello, Miss Banks.” She walked up to me and held her hand out. “I hear that things have been a little bit…tough for you.”

  Sitting down on the couch, I put the IV bag that I had to carry with me when I moved on the back of the couch. Trying to figure out where to start was problematic because there was so much going around in my mind.

  Taking a deep breath, I looked at Luke. “I’m worried that I’ve done something to hurt the babies because I didn’t know that I was pregnant.” He walked around and sat down next to me and took the hand that didn’t have a damn needle in the back of it.

  “Few women do, Miss Banks, but I see from your notes that the ultrasound confirmed that both babies are thriving and perfectly fine. It’s you who isn’t.”

  There was another knock at the door and Doctor Lo stood up. “That’ll be my assistant bringing the IV equipment. Give me one second please.”

  As she walked to the door, Luke squeezed my hand and whispered, “Please stop worrying, it will all be okay.” Looking him in the eyes, I really hoped that he was right.

  I was just about to reply when his phone started ringing.

  “Dad, did you get it?” His entire body turned to rock and his face turned white as he listened to whatever his dad was saying. “WHAT THE FUCK?”

  His head turned toward where the doctor was wheeling an IV machine toward us looking concerned. “Dad,” his voice was so tense it was almost a whisper. “Isla’s pregnant with my babies, I need her safe. I can’t let anything happen to them!”

  I’d never seen Luke like this and I was starting to panic about what was going on at home. “Okay, get him to contact Baz and figure out what we’re going to do and keep me updated on Cole and Cooper. Okay, Dad, you too.”

  Doctor Lo got to me just as he hung up and he watched her like a hawk the whole time she was changing the IV bag and setting up the machine. As soon as she left, he turned around and before I could ask the question eating away at me said, “There’s been two bombings back at home. Cole and Coleman’s guy Cooper are in hospital.”

  Seeing the look on his face, I knew there was more. “Oh my God, are they okay? What happened?”

  “I don’t know, Dad’s going to keep me updated. Coleman’s going to speak to Baz, and we’re going to need to do what they say, Angel. I know it’s not ideal with you being as sick as you are, but I swear I’ll keep you three safe.”

  “What aren’t you telling me, Luke? Why would we need to be safe? I mean, we’re in Singapore and this was at home; if anything, we’re already safe.”

  He stood looking at me for a couple of seconds before walking over and squatting down in front of me. I didn’t miss his flinch as he squatted on the leg that was obviously still painful for him. My hands were shaking now and I braced myself when he held my face and said, “The bombs were for us Angel. They were in my house and your car.”

  My stomach suddenly rebelled and I just missed Luke as I brought up the sandwich that I’d just eaten.

  Ebru

  Running down the hall toward the room that I’d been told he was in I couldn’t stop playing on repeat the words I’d just heard from Maya when she called me to say that she was on her way to the hospital.

  Bomb…explosion…Cole.

  I didn’t do caring because all it did was get you hurt. Right now, though, I cared about what I was going to find when I got to the room.

  I knew the damage that bombs could cause, the life changing effects that they had on people not just physically, but also mentally.

  I stopped before I got to the end of the wall that was blocking Cole from sight and took a deep breath because I wasn’t sure what I was going to find on the other side.

  Stopping at the door to the room, I showed my ID to the security guard on the door and slowly walked past him after he nodded at me.

  Just as I cleared the door, I heard one of our nurse’s voice. “Can you get down from the bed please, Mr. Townsend. You’re going to fall!”

  “I’m a windmill! Look! Weeeeeeeeeeee…”

  What the hell? Taking the step forward that I needed to bring him into sight, I froze solid when I saw what he was doing.

  All six foot five of him was standing on his hospital bed, butt naked, and twirling his dick around in circles.

  I don’t know what noise I made because I was too busy feeling torn between laughing and running out the door far away from the horror in front of me, but Cole’s head turned in my direction. He stopped doing what he was doing with his dick and stared at me long enough that I was starting to wonder if he had amnesia.

  That worry quickly went poof when he started grinning and turned around to face me showing off an impressive, very impressive in fact, erection.

  “And now I’m a unicorn!”

  I didn’t have a chance to react before I was shoved out of the way and Tony went flying past with his arms out in front of him yelling, “You snooze, you lose, bitch!”

  I was distracted from a screaming naked Cole trying to dodge Tony by a very pissed off voice growling, “What the fuck?” And someone literally laughing their ass off.

  Turning around, I saw Ren trying to keep Maya’s eyes covered as she dodged to the left and right trying to see around his huge hand and laughing to the point that she had to hold onto the wall.

  “Leave my magical horn alone you beast!” Cole yelled from the bed, still trying to get away from Tony.

  Maya had slipped down the wall by this point and Ren had given up trying to cover her eyes as he watched the scene in front of him in horror. I knew how he felt; this was the guy that I couldn't stop thinking about?

  Walking back out the door, I got as far as the nurses’ station before I heard a scuffle behind me and turned to see a butt naked Cole running towards me, his dick leading the way. Ah, fuck my life!

  Luke

  Isla’s belongings had been brought to the hotel by one of my security while I spoke to Baz about what the fuck we were going to do. I could see by the look on her face that she wasn’t coping well with everything that was going, which was to be expected, but fuck I hated her feeling like that. I wouldn’t ever let anything touch or hurt her.

  “One of Coleman’s men is a bomb tech expert, he searched the debris from your accident site and found a detonator that hadn’t been picked up by the police. It’s one used by the military, Luke. So, whoever this guy is, he knows his stuff. So far, Piersville PD are blaming it on a gas leak in your property, but Coleman’s man is going to look and see what he can find. The detonator from the original accident site was so discreet that apparently, unless you’d seen one before, you wouldn’t know what it was or what it’s capable of,” Baz explained, running his hands through his hair. We were all frustrated and worried, but the person who was my world could have died if she’d been in Piersville today and the two lives in her stomach would have gone with her.

  “What’s the plan Baz? I need to get Isla and the babies somewhere safe as soon as possible.”

  “Coleman wants you to head to the Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok. Right now, he’s arranging for new ID’s to be delivered for you and Isla. You’ll be booked under your new names at one of the resorts on Gili Air Island.” One of his men stepped forward, handed him some papers, and he skimmed them before continuing. “The plan is for you to fly from Changi to Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta, then to Lombok, and then a boat will take you to Air.”

  I mulled all of this over. “Is this the safest thing for Isla, Baz? Physically and medically. She’s supposed to be getting medical attention here and I’m suddenly taking her away from it. What if they follow us there, too?”

  Baz had always been a straight shooter with me, so I knew he wouldn’t bullshit me on this.

  “At this moment in time, yes,” he took a deep breath before continuing. “The bombs tell us that you are both targets, Luke. We had no way of knowing what was going to happen; any surveillance that we had in place was blocked, and this time not in one loc
ation, but in seven locations. Whatever technology this fuck has, it’s advanced. Right now, we need to get you and Isla to safety, and the best way to do that is to send you off the grid. Indonesia is a huge place and full of islands, and Bali is so busy that people can disappear there easily. If we suspect that they are close to where you are, we’ll move you to another island; Indonesia literally has thousands.”

  His explanation was helping the suffocating tension that I’d felt when I first heard the news. “What about medical facilities? Isla needs her IV and the sickness monitored.”

  “Coleman had a contact who has supplied six men, all Indonesian, to take over your security because we would attract attention to you. One of the men, Guntur, is ex-military and also a medic; he’s going to look after Isla and we’ll arrange appointments in Lombok as required.” The look on my face must have shown how skeptical I was; I wouldn’t risk Isla’s or the babies’ health; they came first, no matter what. “Luke, I wouldn’t do this unless I was happy with the people that were taking over. Guntur and his men are good, and when I say good, I mean the best.” He stopped and looked over at the other member of security standing slightly behind us and then looked back at me. “There’s one more issue…”

  I hated the tone he was using, it made me think of when my Dad told me that our pet Labrador had died when I was eleven. “What?”

  “Your hair…” he looked up at it and then over at the other security guy again.

  “What about my hair?”

  “The blonde will stand out too much. Even though there will be other fair haired people on the island, we want you to blend in.”

  What was he saying? I needed to shave my head? “Fuck no! Look man, I get what you’re saying but the hair stays.” I wasn’t vain, but I would look a fucking mess with a shaved head.