“You’ll never have to do any of those charming things to me,” I said, making eye contact with all three of them.
“Right, George has given me a couple of days to begin with to work from home, so let’s…” Isla was so set on getting to her desk and packing up that she didn’t see that I was still in the room until she looked up. “What’s going on?” I wouldn’t have believed it was possible for these guys to look at someone like they were looking at Isla, but I was relieved she’d had that all these years, because they had been right—she hadn’t had a lot of love in her life.
I walked over to her, and taking my life into my own hands, I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me. “Nothing, sweetheart, they were just making sure that I wasn’t repeating history, which they were right to.” I drew back and met her eyes as I said the last bit, putting every ounce of sincerity in mine so that she would hopefully understand how I felt about her. I’d tried telling her before now, but I had treated her badly, and it would take more than I was giving her at the moment to reassure her of what I was saying. Taking a deep breath and taking step one on the long road to doing that, I cupped her jaw in my hand. “Have fun with your friends, and if you need anything then give me a shout, right?”
She paused before nodding her head, and with a final skim of my nose against hers and a small kiss on her lips, I turned and gave the guys a chin lift as I left the room, hoping that they wouldn’t convince her that I was Satan.
There had been a lot of small incidents on our sites recently that were becoming worrying, though, so I needed to focus on finding out what the fuck was going on with our suppliers and workforce before someone was hurt badly or killed. On that note, I walked into my office and set about looking into that and trying not to think about the prospect of not having Isla in my life forever.
Ren
“Wanna tell me how I come to bring you your cell phone and find you in the arms of a random guy, baby?”
“In the arms is maybe a bit over the top, don’t you think?” She walked up to me, rolled her eyes, and wrapped her arms around my waist.
Looking down into her eyes, I grinned at her and leaned in to kiss her. I always got this turn in my stomach when we kissed, like it was rolling over. Her lips were so soft, and when her tongue touched mine…I lifted my head as our location came back to me. Somehow I didn’t think she’d appreciate us getting hot in her office with her cousin beside us and her uncle opposite us, so picking her up, I took her over to her desk just as her cell phone chimed in my pocket, reminding me of the purpose of my visit.
“Sorry, baby, here.” I glanced at the screen and froze as I saw that asshole ex of hers’ name, which I’d changed to Psycho Fuckhead on the screen. I couldn't figure out how he was getting around the blocks we kept putting on his number. Touching it with the pad of my thumb, I opened up the message, wondering what the fuck he had to say to her now. She hadn’t mentioned him in a while, so I’d figured he’d backed off after my last warning, but apparently not!
“Ren?” She looked down at my hand and froze.
Psycho Fuckhead: Maya when you come back we need to talk. I’m sorry for being such a dick, but I swear it won’t happen again. I know you’re back soon because Ron and Kelly were talking about it last night when I saw them so I’ll see you then. <3
“Oh my God,” she whispered, drawing my attention off of the phone that I was crushing in my hand and back to her. She’d gone white and was shaking.
“How does he know, Maya?”
“I don’t know. I only told Tony yesterday because I wanted him to come and stay with me at the hotel. He’s had a—”
“So, he’s telling these people who are friends with your psycho ex?” I interrupted.
“No! No, Tony wouldn’t do that.” She grabbed her phone out of my hand and opened up the blue Facebook icon. She touched the bottom of the screen and up came a notification: ‘Tony Lewis tagged you in a comment.’ I saw a picture of a good-looking guy with his arm around my girl, both grinning, accompanied by the status—‘Mymy coming home! Watch out bitches here we come’ with ninety-seven comments under it.
“That’s how,” she said, looking back up at me and pointing at one of the comments saying that they had to meet up with this Kelly. “She saw on Tony’s account and must have told Andy.” Looking up at her face, it was clear she wasn’t looking too happy, so I pulled her to me for a hug. I knew that this guy had upset her; apparently he’d been scary enough for her move, and had then driven her crazy with texts, and now this.
“Baby, you’re safe. Do you want me to come with you?”
“You can’t, Ren,” she whispered into my chest. “You’ve got so much going on as it is, and that’s the week that Brett’s coming back.”
Dammit, my brother. And I couldn’t miss it because it was to do with the annual statements and discussions on the oil business; no one could miss that apart from Layla and Tom, who weren’t actively involved in it yet.
“Fuck! I’ll postpone it, or get Brett to move it to the following week.”
“I’ll speak to the Mackays.” She picked up her phone and pressed call. I listened as she talked to some Dale guy, explaining what was going on, and after a lot of okays and head nods, she hung up and turned to me smiling. “Dale’s going to get his security to have a word with him. He was there when Andy grabbed me outside of the restaurant at my leaving party. Thank God, Ren,” she said as she sank into me. Now, though, I was thinking about another guy who was close to Maya—Dale. I needed to shake this off and trust her, and that was what I was going to do. I had way more skeletons in my closet than she did, and she’d faced with them every day and coped. I relaxed into her office chair and just enjoyed holding her and having a moment’s peace. I loved this girl to the moon, and damn, but there was no way I was letting her go.
Chapter Twenty-One
?
“S ir, there’s been a development!” the slimy shit on the phone squeaked into my ear.
“Well?”
“At the Jacoburg building—the scaffolding fell, and six were hurt. Officials are at the scene now and are checking through paperwork and the plans. I just passed the chief, who says they’re closing down the site.”
The first grin in a long time crossed my face as I slammed down my phone; that bastard Montgomery was going down. Picking the phone back up, I dialed a number that had been passed to me the previous day by my leading man; it was picked up after two rings.
“You wanted to do business, I believe.”
I wanted this shit all set up. Anyone loved by the Montgomerys or was close to them was now involved.
“I want the Townsends,” the voice snapped back at me.
Well now, this was interesting…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Maya
I t had been another exhausting week. After texting Tony to let him know what had happened, he’d taken down his status and put up another one saying that my trip had been canceled. Why wouldn’t Andy give up? It was not like we’d even been that together anyway.
Just as we’d started to get into the swing of it on Monday, one of our sites had been closed down due to a scaffolding accident that had baffled everyone. Six people had been injured, though, so Isla and Luke had gone to look at the site and ensure that the wounded workers were okay and reassure the remaining ones that everything would be done to find out why and how it had happened. Since then, it had been one issue after the other, and our security officers had been going to individual sites to check over machinery and materials and ensure that everything was in order. I’d been helping out with all of it too, and was looking forward to a relaxing weekend with Ren before I had to leave. The Mackays had moved the meeting to the following Friday, so this was the last weekend we’d have together, but it meant I’d get back in time to meet Brett.
Mulling over everything in my head, I missed the guy standing outside our office building.
“Maya!” Turning around, it took me a moment
to recognize him from Jilly’s—Richard, a.k.a. Dick, was walking towards me with a big smile on his face. “Hey, I was hoping to catch you. Have you got a minute?”
Fortunately, LeAnne was watching through her office window, so I relaxed knowing that she’d scream for George if Dick did anything.
“Uh, hi?”
“Sorry, I haven’t been around to see you, but hey.” He shrugged a shoulder while talking, as if I’d been expecting to see him or meet up with him.
All of this was throwing me off balance, so I reached into the front pocket of my handbag where my phone was, put my thumb on the scanner to activate it, and fumbled my way to calling Ren; at least, I hoped it was Ren. Something just seemed off with this conversation, and I didn’t trust him one bit.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you, Richard, if I’m honest,” I replied, watching every movement. My dad had raised Lucy and me to watch body language and eyes, and to never confront.
“Wanna go for a drink?” he snapped at me, apparently insulted by my comment, and it made me take a step back, which made him look smug for some reason.
Before I could answer, I heard feet walking across the gravel of the parking lot behind me and Dick’s eyes flicked past my shoulder. Whatever he saw had him looking furious.
“Ahhhh, Dicketh Biggeth!” I heard crowed from behind me, and I recognized Cole’s voice and the Monty Python reference and remembered that I'd called him earlier to play a sound clip from the movie It to him. “Hey, man, whatcha doing here?” Cole asked, slinging his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to his side. I know that the guy was an ass at times, but I did love him.
“Just talking to Maya. That okay with you?”
“Ah, great minds, Dicketh Biggeth. We’ve got a family dinner tonight, so I was just coming to get a ride with Maya. Honestly, it’s a wonder that he doesn’t glue himself to her, they’re around each other so much. Young love and all that; maybe once their married and Maya’s popping out tiny Townsends, he’ll relax. What do you think?” I could see the muscle in Dick’s jaw ticking as his face changed color.
Looking down at me, he said, “Have fun, Maya. See you soon,” before turning around and stalking away.
I relaxed the death grip I had on my phone and pressed call.
"Hey babe, you okay?" He answered.
"I was walking to my car when Richard turned up, and I didn’t like how he was acting, so I pressed the last number dialed thinking it was you, but it was really Cole. Anyway, Cole’s here and Richard isn’t, so it’s fine.”
“Wait, he was at your work?” he growled. “What did he want?”
I was debating on whether or not to answer him, but if he found out and I hadn’t told him myself, it might lead to him not trusting me or doubting me in the future. I had to put myself in his shoes, so I told him the truth. “He was…asking me for a drink?”
Somehow, Cole had finagled it so that he was behind the wheel of Hulk when we got to him, which made me smile, because he and Ren were the only other people that I trusted to drive it.
Hearing me repeat what Richard had wanted, Cole froze and turned towards me with an ‘are you stuck on stupid?’ look on his face. Since he’d attempted to give me this look before, I just gave him a blank look back, making him shake his head, go back to adjusting the wheel and chair, and then press the automatic ignition on the key fob.
“He what?” Ren roared. “Put Cole on!”
Sighing, I gave the phone to Cole, who put it on speakerphone and pulled out of the parking lot. “I know, man. Don’t worry, I dealt with it.”
We were passing the garage, and I could see Ren standing with his head on the wall. “Pull over.”
Leaving Cole in the car to talk to Ren over the phone, I ran across the lot to him, not making a sound until I got right beside him and squeezed between him and the wall, shocking him. His head snapped up, his expression changing instantly as he looked down at me.
Cupping my face, he slammed his lips against mine, kissing me as if I were going to disappear. Pulling back, I stroked his face with my hand and smoothed his eyebrow with my thumb, staring into his beautiful eyes the whole time.
“Are you alright?” he whispered, looking me over like he was checking if I was hurt or bruised in any way.
“I’m all right, he was just dick,” I giggled, making the side of his mouth turn up to in a semi-smile. “Shall we go to your mom’s now?”
Tugging him towards his car while Cole idled in Hulk near us, Ren breathed out a deep sigh and walked with me. We were both silent throughout the journey to his parents. I couldn't stop wondering what Richard had really wanted and God only knew what Ren was thinking about.
“I love you, Maya. I’ve never loved a female that wasn’t my family, but you—you’re everything. The thought of anything happening to you kills me, and it may seem over the top, but I would do anything to protect you and to stop anyone who could hurt you from getting close to you,” he said as we pulled up in front of his parents’ home.
Undoing my belt, I crawled into his lap, and with my head in his neck, I whispered, “I love you for looking after me so well and for caring so much for me that you would protect me, but you’ll make yourself ill if you don’t relax and stop worrying.” I couldn’t stop myself from stroking his handsome face, and the tension that had lined it was gone as he closed his eyes and leaned into my hand.
“I needed to hear that, baby. Let’s go in before Mom sends out a search party.” He smacked my ass and got out the car before turning me so that my legs hung out the door, wrapping them around his waist and lifting me up.
“Lemme go, Ren. I can’t see your parents like this.” I was twitching my body, trying to get my legs from around his waist, but he wasn’t having it. From behind me, I heard the sounds of the front door opening and froze. “I hate you,” I muttered, just knowing that his family was standing behind me.
“Dessert usually comes after dinner, don’t it?” Ren's Grandpa Hurst chuckled.
“What can I say, Gramps? We pulled in, and she just threw herself at me,” Ren said, giving my ass another smack and topping off my embarrassment.
“That’s nothing. You shoulda seen where she was putting her hands while I was driving,” Cole piped up. Quick as a flash, one hand left my ass, and a smack sounded. “Mom, Ren hit me! It was all Maya’s fault, though, she kept grabbing my—” Smack! “Dad, Mom hit me!”
We all turned and walked into the house, closing the door behind us, leaving Cole still whining on the other side of it.
Ren
Later at the table, Gramps was acting like the old schmo that he was, cracking jokes and mooning over Maya every chance he got.
“So old Mo, bless his old ass crack, passed away two weeks ago,” Gramps said, shaking his head with a forlorn look on his face. Maya, who had been laughing seconds ago, sobered up and reached for his hand.
“I’m so sorry, Hurst. How did he die?” I looked from their joined hands up to my Gramps’s face to see him sitting with a smug smirk on his lips and considered throttling him quickly so he could join ‘old Mo’ in his casket—the man had no class, cashing in on his friend’s death with his grandson’s girlfriend. Where was the loyalty?
“He…” He paused and shook his head slowly. “Man, this is hard to get out.” Gramps leaned back, taking Maya’s hand with him, and looked at Gram, who was glaring at him like he was ten seconds away from meeting his maker, before taking a deep breath and continuing. “He died of a Viagra overdose!”
Maya gasped and leaned back with her hand over her mouth, staring at him. “Oh my God, that poor man!”
By this point, Gram was grinding her teeth, Mom was staring at the table, and Dad was looking way too interested in whatever the fuck was on the wall behind us. I pulled Maya into my side and looked down at her face; poor baby looked so sad by Gramps’s story that I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was a joke. The betraying bastard couldn’t leave it there, though, could he? Oh no, he suddenly pip
ed up from his chair, “Yep. Went to his funeral last Wednesday, and they couldn’t close his casket.”
Dad started spluttering, Mom’s shoulders were moving, Gram had her hands over her eyes and was muttering something, and poor Maya was sitting staring wide-eyed at Gramps, who was holding his side and laughing.
Before I could whisper to her that it was a joke, she said, “Oh, Hurst, what a shame for his poor family, and for you too. I’m so sorry for your loss.” I squeezed her hand to get her attention to tell her it was a joke, but when she looked at me, she gave me a quick wink. Looking at Mom, her face lit up with a beaming smile as she caught it, and Gram was now sitting with a smug yet slightly sinister smile on her face. “How’s his family? Did he have any kids?” she asked, sounding so sincere and caring that I saw the smile on Gramps’s face start to drop; he didn’t have the heart to trample on her good soul, so he didn’t know what to do.
“We should organize some sort of memorial event for him, don’t you think?” she continued, and then launched into ideas on how to best honor Old Mo. “Of course, if we planted a tree in his honor, people could look at the word and think of him,” she said straight-faced.
Gramps looked up at her and glared. “Damn, you’re good,” he snapped, before getting up from his seat and storming away, muttering about joke-wrecking bastards.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maya
L anding in Tampa, I saw the familiar views of my old home. I thought I’d miss it or feel something, but all I felt was an increasing desperation to get back to Piersville. Saying goodbye to Ren, even just for a week, had been so hard.
Walking through the airport after getting my bag, I headed in the direction of the taxi stand when I heard, “Maya Price!” Turning around, there was Tony grinning at me with a huge sign with my name on it…was that glitter?
“Wow, that’s…” I started as I walked toward him, grinning. I was about three feet away when he lunged and picked me up off the floor, making me scream as he spun me around.
Providence Series Books 1-4 Page 17