Welcome to Lake Ventures (New Haven Book 2)

by Dawn Doyle

  “Stay away from them, asshole, or you’ll be sorry you ever came over here.” He threatened.

  Jeff’s face paled as he took in Alex’s size. At six feet three inches and broad muscular build, he dwarfed Jeff in every way.

  “I just want to talk to Emily.” He said, holding up his hands.

  “Well, she doesn’t want to talk to you so do as she says and fuck off.”

  Jeff stood frozen where they left him as they opened the glass doors, then the oak doors, and entered the function room where Cora’s birthday party was being held.

  “Thanks Alex.”

  “Are you ok Em? I can’t believe he turned up here.” Said Holly as she hugged her.

  “Yeah, thanks for that guys. I’m wondering why he was here in the first place. The meeting was weeks ago and I thought he’d gone home.”

  She wondered what his game was and why he’d stuck around.

  Probably trying to con somebody else into giving him their money.

  “Emily!” Cora squealed as she saw her and ran at her.

  “Hi Cora. Happy birthday.” She said and was taken by surprise when Cora threw her arms around her waist and hugged her tight.

  “Thank you! I’m glad you came.”

  “I got you something.” Emily said and handed her a gift.”

  “Oh yay!” she cried. “Mom, can I open this now?” She asked a woman that approached them. She was taller than Emily, with the same light coloured hair as Cora, which fell down in soft curls to her shoulders.

  Her features were soft and pretty. Cora looked just like her.

  “Just this one, honey. You can open the rest at home.” Cora squealed with happiness. “Hi I’m Mia, Cora’s mother.” She said with a smile.

  “I’m Emily.”

  “Oh, you’re Nick’s assistant?” She asked narrowing her eyes a little.

  “Um… yes.”

  Emily wondered if Nick had been saying bad things to his Mum about her. She didn’t think he would but from the way she was looking at her, she felt like she was being surveyed.

  Mia’s expression changed to a huge smile and Emily felt paranoid.

  “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Emily.”

  “Thank you. You too.” She said before being deafened by Cora’s scream.

  “Oh my god this is so awesome!” She cried with excitement.

  Emily had found a deluxe custom sneaker kit so Cora could design, and draw on, her own sneakers.

  “Thank you so much!” She said and hugged Emily again.

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.”

  “I love it! I’m going to do this tomorrow.”

  “You could design a pair for me too.” Emily added. “I’ll buy a pair and you can make them extra cool for me.”

  “Emily, they won’t just be cool, they’ll be fabulous!” She said clicking her fingers and looking just like Ryan when she did.

  Mia was beckoning to somebody and Emily’s stomach flip flopped when she realised who.

  It was Nick; wearing a loose pair of dark blue jeans, and a black, long sleeved T-shirt.

  Emily could see that he was, in fact, muscular as the T-shirt showed the round bulges of his shoulders and biceps. The squareness of his pecs were hugged by the fabric, dipping between them.

  He looked so sexy.

  His slightly long hair framing his face with the front strands reaching his lips.

  Emily forgot for a moment that she was mad at him. Instead, her knees trembled and her skin tingled. Heat spreading through her body and settling in her core.

  Fuck you for making me want you.

  “Look what Emily got for me!” Cora beamed, still looking over her gift like it was the best thing ever.

  “That’s cool.” He said, briefly making eye contact with Emily as he stroked the top of Cora’s head.

  “I can decorate your sneakers too if you’d like.”

  “I think I’m good for now.”

  “Oh you’re just still mad because you couldn’t get the red off your lips.” She pouted.

  Nick’s eyes widened at Cora and Emily had to pull her lips into her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

  “You said it was Coral blue number two.” He complained.

  “Actually, it was Coral blue number five.” Cora laughed and Emily couldn’t hold back her giggle. Cora was amazing! Obviously Nick didn’t watch SpongeBob.

  “Oh, Nick. You have to stop letting your sister do that to you.” Said Mia.

  “It makes her happy.” He said with a shrug.

  Mia looked between Emily and Nick for a second before turning to leave.

  “I need to go speak to your father.” She said to Nick before speaking to Emily. “I hope to speak to you again tonight, Emily.”

  They stood there in an awkward silence not knowing what to say.

  “Come and meet my friends.” Cora took Emily’s hand and led her away from Nick. “You can have your girlfriend back soon.” She said in a sing-song voice.

  “I’m not his girlfriend.” Emily said in defence.

  “I know, but the look on his face is hilarious.” Cora laughed.

  They’re all alike!

  Emily met Nick’s father, David and it was evident that the boys took after him. He was as tall as Nick, his hair short and dark but greying at the sides.

  He was friendly and kept smiling at her like there was some inside joke she didn’t know about.

  “So, you work for my boy?” He asked.

  “Yes. Almost nine weeks now.”

  “That’s good. How’s it going so far? Is he treating you well?”

  That question threw her. She couldn’t tell him she thought Nick was a pain in the arse but she also didn’t want him to think Nick was a saint.

  “As well as expected.” She said, which was the truth. He was still being a royal dick and after the comment he made about the club, he was on his way to being a full blown fuck ‘ed.

  “If he steps out of line, let me know.” He said with a wink before leaving to speak to his wife, Mia.

  “What did my Dad say to you?” Nick’s voice came from beside her.

  “He gave me his blessing to cause you physical pain when necessary.” She scowled before leaving to talk to Riss and Kayla.

  Kayla, Riss’ cousin, was dating Kyle, Ryan’s best friend.

  The four of them, as well as Holly, Alex, Dev and Ben, all hung out together. They’d all been there for Holly and Alex when Stacey had repeatedly attacked them before, finally, kidnapping Holly.

  Emily liked all of them. They were a good bunch.

  Emily had almost reached Riss when she felt a tug on her arm.

  “Emily, I need to talk to you.”

  It was Jeff…again!

  “What the hell are you doin’ in here? This is a private party. A kids party!”

  “I know, I just needed to speak to you. I wanted to ask you for another chance.”

  Emily froze in shock.

  “Are you messin’? Why the fuck would I give you another chance?” She spat as they moved into a corner away from the ears of the children.

  Emily had a strong feeling it was because his business was falling apart as he had no idea what he was doing.

  “I made a terrible mistake, Emily. I know that, and I wanted to ask you to come back.”

  “It’s been almost two years, fuck ‘ed. Why would I go back? Just being in the same space as you makes me sick, you piece of shit.”

  “I deserve that, I know. Emily, please. Maybe come back for a trial run? We did great together, you and I. We were a fantastic team.”

  “Team? That’s a fuckin’ laugh. You don’t know the meanin’ of the word. You just want me to put your business back together for you. That’s the thing about leaving everything up to one person, dick ‘ed. You haven’t the got the first fuckin’ clue what to do when they go. You’ve only got yourself to blame.”

  “What the fuck are you doing here, Jeff?”

  Nick
!

  “Outside, now.”

  Nick ushered Jeff out of the door.

  *****

  “I said, what the fuck are you doing here?”

  “I came for Emily. I need her back.”

  “You’re not having her and she doesn’t want you. She hates your fucking guts.” He spat. He hated him too. Whatever he’d done to his Emmy, he wasn’t going to allow him near her.

  “You could persuade her. Lend her to me for six months and then you can have her back.”

  “What?! Do you hear yourself? You can’t just borrow a person. What kind of asshole thinks that way?”

  Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Jeff was asking him to loan him Emily. Like she was nothing!

  “Come on Nick, we’re the same. Doing whatever, and whoever we can to get ahead.”

  Oh. My. God!

  Jeff was implying that Nick was using Emily, and sleeping with her, just to further his business.

  Nick saw red and before he could stop himself, he pulled back his arm and let his fist fly, connecting with Jeff’s nose.

  Blood spattered across Jeff’s face as he was thrown back with the force of Nick’s punch.

  “You broke my nose!” He screamed as he lay in the floor, hands covering his face.

  “Don’t go near, or speak to my Emmy again! If you do I will hurt you so bad you’ll wish you’d never been born; And not just physically. I’ll personally see to it that you lose everything. You won’t get a cent from anyone! Now, Get. Out!”

  Nick watched Jeff get unsteadily to his feet. The fear in his eyes as he realized Nick meant every word. Jeff’s eyes flicked over his shoulder, before he stumbled towards the glass doors.

  Nick was breathing deeply. His fists clenched, muscles tense.

  Turning to see what Jeff had looked at he saw the group standing, mouths open, and Emily disappearing back through the door into the function room.

  “Emmy!” He said before following her into the bathrooms she was running into.

  *****

  Emily felt sick.

  Hearing Jeff asking Nick if he could borrow her for six months. It was as if he was asking to borrow a calculator, or some other object!

  She knew he had used her but to hear him openly admit it, like it was nothing, had shocked her to the core. Especially as the group were standing there and heard every word.

  Nick seemed just as shocked as she was and let Jeff know exactly that when he implied Nick was using her too.

  He’d lost it.

  Emily had watched as Nick punched Jeff in the face. The way he did it made it look like he’d done that a few times before.

  More than a few times.

  She didn’t feel guilty that she’d enjoyed seeing Jeff’s nose explode before he fell to the floor, but she felt something else when she heard what Nick said to him afterwards.

  My Emmy.

  Like she was his.

  It had hit her square in the chest and her breath caught.

  “Emmy, open the door. I know you’re in there.” Nick said gently, knocking on the door of the stall she had locked herself in.

  “No, and you shouldn’t be in here.” She replied. Her voice barely a whisper.

  “Like that stopped me before.” He snorted. “Open the door or I’ll open it myself.”

  Emily, worried that he’d take the door off it’s hinges, pulled back the latch and opened the door.

  “Christ, Emmy!” He said as she stepped out of the cubicle to stand at the sink.

  “Jump up” He said and Emily froze when he grabbed her around her waist and lifted her to sit on the counter top.

  His warm hands around her gave her goosebumps all over.

  Letting go, he took some tissue and started to wipe the tears that were falling from her eyes.

  “That asshole will never go near you, or speak to you again, do you hear me?” He asked as he looked into her tear filled eyes. “You’ll never be treated like that again.”

  Emily nodded her head as she looked into his furious eyes. Sitting on the counter, she was at eye level with him.

  He continued wiping the tears and the makeup smudges, and Emily let him, without saying a word. She took a deep breath to calm herself, but instead of calming, she heated.

  With every breath, Nick’s scent invaded her. There was no getting away from it when he was standing in front of her, his body close to hers. She didn’t want to get away from it. She wanted to drown in it.

  She had closed her eyes for a second when she felt Nick’s thumb wipe across her cheek.

  Opening her eyes with the unexpected touch, she found him studying her. He was closer than before and was getting closer still. Close enough that they were inhaling each other’s breaths.

  Emily, unconsciously, licked her lips as his parted.

  “Emily are you ok? Can I come in?” Holly asked as she slowly opened the main door to the ladies bathrooms.

  Nick quickly took a step back away from her; a flush to his cheeks.

  Emily felt her own heating up too. It looked like Nick was about to kiss her, but that wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he was going to say something else. That’s why his lips had parted.

  No, he wasn’t going to kiss me.

  No, I didn’t want him to either. Yes… I did. Shit.

  “I’m ok, Hol.” She said as Holly slowly walked into the room. “Just a bit shocked at what Jeff did, that’s all.”

  “No, there’s something else wrong. You don’t get ‘shocked’ and just stand there; you go off your head. You’re not going off your head. What’s wrong really?”

  “Hol, I’m ok. I wasn’t expecting that, really, what he said… what he implied… he’s a disgusting fuck ‘ed and I’m sorry I didn’t punch him as well.”

  She said with venom.

  “There, that’s our Em.” Holly said smiling. “Well, just be glad Nick got there first because after that, Jeff’s not going to breathe right for a long while.”

  Emily looked to Nick as he was looking down at the floor, his hands in his pockets.

  He looked like a shy little boy and her heart melted seeing how uncomfortable he was with them praising him for punching Jeff.

  “I’m gonna go. Are you gonna be ok?” Se asked, glancing at Emily.

  “Yeah” She nodded.

  “Thanks for doing that Nick. That was boss.” Said Holly with a smile.

  “No problem.” He replied as he opened the door to leave.

  “So. What was that?” Holly asked questioningly.

  “What was what?”

  “What I just walked in on.”

  “Nothing.”

  “That didn’t look like nothing to me.” Holly grinned.

  “He just said that Jeff won’t come near me, or speak to me again.”

  “Awww, that was sweet!”

  “He’s just looking out for his employee. He’d do the same if it was Diane. Anyway, where’s Alex?”

  It was strange seeing Holly without him. He never left her alone. Not since that night.

  “He’s standing outside the door.” She replied with a dreamy look on her face. “The bathroom is the only place I go without him.”

  “That’s not what I heard last night.” Emily joked, glad the subject had taken a turn.

  “Hey! That’s not what I meant.” She laughed. “But yeah, he goes into the bathroom with me but not when I need to use the toilet.”

  “Fair enough. Anyway, I want to forget about what just happened so let’s go.”

  Emily jumped down from the counter before they both exited the bathrooms.

  The other girls rushed over as soon as they came out and hugged Emily.

  “Oh my God that punch was awesome!” said Riss. “I think I actually heard that asshole’s nose break. Ew! Just think… Nick had to hold himself back too. If he used his full force he could’ve killed him.”

  What?!!

  “What do you mean, ‘could’ve killed him’?” Emily asked. When he hit Jeff
, it looked powerful then. If he’d held back then…

  “Ryan told me that Nick trained in Krav Maga for years. He stopped over a year ago. He won’t talk about it though.”

  That’s where the scars came from, then.

  Emily didn’t like fighting but knowing Nick could handle himself that way caused her to flush.

  All over.

  No wonder he had a well-built physique. He must have trained hard and kept up some form of physical exercise to maintain it.

  Emily swallowed the saliva that pooled in her mouth with the thoughts of Nick getting sweaty in the gym. Now that she’d seen the outline of his muscular shape, she had a pretty good idea that he would look phenomenal naked.

  Oh God! Stop it!

  “So, is everything ok then? He’s gone for good?” Asked Kayla.

  “Yeah. He won’t come near me again.” Emily replied as she took out her phone. She was going to call a cab. Her thoughts had gone wayward since Nick took care of her in the bathrooms, and she needed some space to clear her head.

  As she called, she looked over and saw Nick dancing with Cora. She was standing on his feet and he was making her do crazy moves as he held her hands. He was smiling down at her and Cora was laughing.

  Emily’s chest ached as she saw how much he adored his little sister. Then she saw how much the other Mum’s adored looking at Nick…

  Her phone beeped to let her know her cab was outside. Saying goodbye to the group, she asked Holly to apologise to Cora for leaving without saying goodbye, and that she could call her if she wanted to.

  N: Why did you leave? Are you ok?

  Nick had texted Emily whilst she was in the shower. She hadn’t told him she was leaving. She wasn’t going to because she couldn’t face him after the thoughts she’d been having a few minutes earlier. She wouldn’t have been able to look him in the eye in case he figured it out.

  Not that he had telepathy, but her red face would have been a dead give away.