Forever Mine (Providence Series Book 1) Read online

  “What the hell Luke?” I shouted. “You almost gave us a heart attack.”

  “Neither of you are going to that place. You’ll be molested and malled by every guy in the County, no way.” He stopped in front of us with his hands on his hips and glared making it obvious that he wasn’t going to budge.

  “Know what Maya,” Isla said, turning to me. “I’d love to go. I’ll give you my number tomorrow, and we can make the arrangements. Have a good night,” and walked off in the direction of her car as Luke cursed and jogged after her.

  As I drove out of the carpark, I passed Isla’s car and saw Luke standing pressed up against her, holding her face in both hands. There was definitely a story there, and I really wanted to know what it was.

  Ren

  The men were sitting in the den relaxing after dinner while Maya helped mom tidy up the kitchen. I had offered to help, but mom waved me off and sent me to follow Dad and Cole. There was definitely something up with the little shit tonight; he kept giving me nervous looks and then looking at Maya; if the little bastard had done something to Maya, I’d kill him.

  “So, uh Ren, how was your day?” The shithead in question asked me eyeballing the doorway and rubbing the back of his neck.

  “What have you done?” He was never this nice to me, so he had definitely done something.

  “Nothing man just wondered. Hey, you’re looking awfully tense over there,” he said giving me a cocky grin as his shoulders sagged with….was that relief?

  “You’ve done something haven’t you? You’re never this nice you little shit.”

  “Ren’s right son, you’ve got that guilty look you used to get as a kid when you accidentally picked up one of your Mom’s books,” Dad piped up from his recliner in the corner.

  “Hey, I didn’t know that she left them lying around under my books!” Cole turned red and shifted in his chair. “And I always gave them back,” the brat continued, crossing his arms and pouting.

  “No, you didn’t darling,” Mom interrupted as she walked in with Maya, who came and sat down next to me. I couldn’t stop myself putting my arm around her and pulling her closer to me; I the same thing at dinner which led to Cole saying some shit head remark and Mom grinning at me while Dad shook his head and chuckled.

  “I would always get them back a couple of months later, and in a well-used state too,” Mom raised an eyebrow at Cole, daring him to say otherwise. I could feel Maya laughing beside me seeing the deep red color that his face has turned; he hardly ever blushed, so this a priceless moment. I couldn’t wait to tell my sister and brother’s; they’d be so pissed that they’d missed it. I wonder if I could take a picture on my phone, though?

  “That wasn’t me; it was Layla - and Tom,” Cole whined. Seriously, how the hell was I related to this guy?

  “If you say so. Oh, I’ve got a new one, by the way, good luck finding it, though,” Mom laughed as she sat down finally.

  My mom is one of the best people I know. She’d never once needed time away from being a huge ranch and oil owners wife and always met each problem and hurdle head on. I still hadn’t told Maya about my family’s oil; my great grandfather on my Dad’s side bought land when he first settled in the States, and when my Grandad was born they discovered it had oil. My brother Brett took over the business side of it after he graduated, along with my cousin Dex, and the rest us concentrated on the ranch and our own businesses and lives.

  Women had tried to use us for that money, but mom could spot their game a mile away and used to help us out. Brett once brought home this chick from Houston, where his offices were, and she had looked like the perfect Stepford wife and was from a wealthy family herself. She had acted like butter wouldn’t melt, when the truth was even the devil himself couldn’t have roasted the butter as quick as she could. I don’t know how Mom found out her plans to ‘accidentally’ get pregnant and claim that it was Brett's when it would have, in fact, been her driver Jose’s, but after the showdown, we never saw the bitch again. That had been the worst incident and had soured Brett towards relationships, but no matter how little we showed the family’s wealth, women still tried. Maya wasn’t like that though and it would be unfair not to tell her soon, but I didn’t know how.

  “Mom,” Cole whined, interrupting my thoughts.

  “In fact, I’m going to bin them all and get one of those Kindle things. Not that I’ve got many left to bin since they keep ending up under a jacket or you picking them up to bring to me so that I can ‘take a load off and relax’,” Mom said looking at Cole the whole time.

  Maya laughed that hard that she started coughing bringing Cole’s attention to her. “Well, Ren’s not looking after Maya’s needs,” he said pointing at her and all heads turned our way as Maya froze and turned red.

  “You’re the one that said that not me you ass,” she hissed at him.

  “What the fuck?”

  “Cole texted me about tonight and made an innuendo,” Maya said passing me her phone.

  As I read through the texts, Cole snickered and replied with the old, “in-YOUR-endo.” Dick!

  When I get to the end of the messages, I looked up at Captain Colon. “Oh shit,” he yelped and ran out of the room before I could go and hurt him.

  He had to fall asleep at some point so I’d deal with him later, but for now…

  “Dash,” I yelled. “Find Cole.” Hearing the sound of his nails scraping on the floor as he ran after the asshole.

  “No, these are my favorite jeans. I’ll get you a girlfriend. She’ll be hot, I swear,” we all heard yelled from outside the window as Cole ran past it with Dash jumping up at him. “I’m not that kind of guy,” he squealed; I’ve never loved that dog more in my life.

  Before she went home, Maya showed us the printouts of her ideas for my house and some furniture selections. I’ve got to say I was blown away by it all. I had never thought of moving the study upstairs and making the room downstairs into a toilet. I hated having to walk up to the first bedroom to take a leak, and I hardly spent any time in the study anyway so it would be convenient to make the change.

  I also liked the idea of breaking up the living room from the dining area and extending the kitchen round a bit. Agreeing to look over the furniture ideas and think about the building work, although I already knew that I wanted it all done, I sat back and enjoyed the time with her and my parents without Cole around. In fact, Dash hadn’t even come home yet; I wonder how far he chased him this time?

  Maya

  Two weeks later…

  Last night Ren had taken me to an Italian restaurant in a town half an hour away from Piersville and as soon as we walked in my mouth had started watering. Our food had just arrived, and we were laughing Ren’s stories from his childhood when someone walked up to the table making Ren and me turn around. I quickly lost my appetite when I saw Francheska and her ‘friends,' more like prisoners, standing there.

  “Aw, how sweet,” she’d sneered looking at Ren holding my hand on the table, and then dismissing me as she flashed him the sweetest smile. “We were just reminiscing Ren. Do you remember Dave Housen’s party when you, me and Bianca snuck into his parent's room? What was it he said B?” She asked turning to the girl beside her who was wearing the tiniest dress I’d ever seen and who was twisting a strand of hair in her fingers and staring at Ren.

  “He said he’d always wanted a threesome and doing it on the Housen’s bed would make it even hotter."

  My appetite had completely disappeared, and I was kicking myself for not saying I’d meet him there because, if I had, I could have got up and escaped. Now I was stuck listening to this shit.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Ren growled, holding onto my hand even harder as I tried to pull it away. “You come in here and start this shit telling lies when I’m having dinner with my girlfriend, knowing full well that you’re stirring up crap and hurting her. Upset her anymore and I promise that I’ll make your lives a living hell; and you know I can.”


  They’d all gasped when he’d called me his girlfriend, but I hadn’t been paying much attention because I was feeling sick to my stomach by then and just wanted to disappear. The bitch had said something then that made it even worse if that was possible. “And then Luke and Tiff joined us. I don’t think that bed would have ever been the same after the five of us were finished.”

  Ren had stood up so quickly that his chair fell over and whispered something to her which made her go pale. “We’re leaving,” she snapped grabbing the wicked witches arms and dragging them away, but the damage was done.

  I tried everything I could to not cry, but I couldn’t stop the tears so I’d looked at my lap and hoped that my hair covered my face so he wouldn’t see. I knew it was in the past, I knew that he was young and stupid, but I didn’t want his past shoved in my face constantly. What would it be like in a years time when we’d built something together and every time we went out there were women from his past throwing memories in our faces?

  “Baby,” he’d whispered, but I just wanted to go so I’d picked up my purse and went to stand up. “Maya, look at me,” he said, gently grabbing my arm and pulling my chair closer to him.

  “Ren, I don’t want to cause more of a scene here, it's not fair for everyone else. Can you just let me go, please?” I couldn’t even look at him because it hurt so much.

  “Maya,” he growled as I stood up to leave and gently pulled me on his lap making me choose between fighting and making a scene, or just staying put until whatever crap he had to say was said. “She’s talking shit baby. She wanted to hurt you and cause shit, please don’t let her win,” he’d said, turning my face to look at him.

  “She’s lying?” I repeated, needing that final confirmation that what I’d just heard was nothing but a bitter, twisted bitch stirring up shit because she wanted someone didn’t want her back.

  “She’s talking shit angel. What she doesn’t realize though Maya, is that I’m not giving you up, do you understand that?"

  I was relieved it hadn’t happened; I was relieved that he felt for me what I was scared to feel for him, and I’d needed those words from him. I knew it was too soon, but fairytales happen in books and movies, why can’t they exist in real life, too? That bitch had got her one moment of weakness from me too. From now on, I was gonna fight back.

  Ren had driven me home holding my hand the whole way, and when we got there, he had come in and given me the sweetest kiss goodnight.

  * * *

  At 10 am, still feeling slightly off after last night because I didn’t think that that was the end of Francheska’s bullshit, I was shocked when the most beautiful bunch of flowers arrived on my desk. There were pink roses, peonies, Cala lilies and branches of cherry blossoms. I thought maybe my parents had sent them, or Amy, or Lucy, but when I picked out the card it said:

  Maya,

  If I could choose how my life would go, I’d turn back time so that I met you the moment you were born. You carry my heart in your hands now.

  Yours, Ren xxxxxxx

  I didn't know what to do, so I sat staring at them for a bit longer. Did he mean it? How did a playboy go from living how he’d lived his life all of these years to Mr. Romance and become an advocate for romance and relationships? It didn’t make any sense; could I trust it? Then again, he didn’t look like the kind of guy who would just do all of this to get me into bed, and I knew he wouldn’t either.

  Picking up my phone I sent him a text:

  Me: Thank you for the gorgeous surprise. xox

  I figured he’d be busy at work because he’d said they’d been inundated recently, but just as I’d put my phone down it buzzed with a reply from him.

  Ren: I meant what I said on the card. I may not always get it right, but I will make sure that you never doubt what I feel for you, baby. xxxxx

  Me: I’m starting to believe that you might just be telling the truth, Ren Townsend. <3 xox

  Ren: I’ve been telling it since we met. See you tonight. xxxx

  At lunch time, I went to get Isla, who I was becoming very close to, but when she wasn’t in her office, I knocked on Luke’s door which was closed.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s me, do you know where Isla is?” I felt strange shouting through a door in the middle of an office, but it wasn’t unknown for Luke to lock himself down so that he could focus on what he was doing. I was proud of him because he was fantastic at what he did and had already won awards for his designs.

  “Gimme a sec honey,” she shouted shocking the hell out of me.

  I was about to reply when I was interrupted by the overwhelming smell of sickly sweet perfume, which I now knew meant bad news. Why didn’t that stuff come with a warning and usage instructions on the box?

  When I was ten, we’d flown first class from LA to London. At the time, it was apparently the law that the hostesses wore thick makeup with a neon orangey red lipstick and every time I saw that shade I thought back to that trip and the air hostess who had been flirting with my father. She’d made a point of coming up to him after we had eaten and taking the scarf from around her neck to wipe the crumbs off his crotch with. Since then, it was an ongoing joke in the family that that shade was called ‘air hooker’, and right in front of me was an immaculately dressed and made up air hooker who was looking at me like I was a piece of dog crap.

  “Could you get out of my way,” it said shooing me with one perfectly manicured hand and bumping me out of the way so that she could knock on the door herself.

  “Dammit, Maya,” Luke shouted again, sounding out of breath and frustrated. “Just a second!”

  “It's me, darling,” the air hooker squeaked at the door. If the baby voice was supposed to sound sexy it was an epic fail, but suddenly the door opened, and Luke was standing looking at us. His shirt looked almost perfect if you overlooked the fact that his buttons were in the wrong holes and was untucked from his trousers on the left side. I doubt the air hooker noticed though as she was too busy launching herself at him and planting a hard smooch on his lips. I looked behind him and saw Isla was a bit more rumpled than she had this morning and she was watching the freak show in front of us with a look of horror on her face and things started to add up that bastard! Luke must have known the minute I figured it out because his eyes cut to me and he looked guilty as hell.

  Asshole I mouthed at him, and his face fell even more, but I had no pity for him; he’d done this to himself. Instead, my pity was for Isla, who was now looking at the floor.

  “Sorry Luke, I hope you got what you needed done, but Isla and I have a lunch meeting now, and she’s out of the office this afternoon so we must go. Isla are you ready?” I said leaning around him and holding my hand out.

  Looking at him with a disgusted expression when the air hooker remained wrapped around him whispering loudly, “mmm, I’ve missed you, darling. What say we go and fool around for a bit, it's been too long since we last enjoyed ‘lunch’ together in your office,” I walked us quickly towards the exit.

  Just as we passed Isla’s door, the air hooker said loudly, “Oh my God, is that Isla Banks?” Isla stiffened beside me, and I tried to walk even faster, but nothing could have stopped us hearing her. “Aw is she still in love with you? I thought things were meant to get better with age, bait until I tell Calista, she’ll be delighted."

  I had no idea who that bitch was or who Calista was, but Isla obviously did because her shoulders started to shake as soon as we walked out into the car park; I was pretty sure that I was going to kill Luke when I got back.

  “Are you okay?”

  “No,” she whispered still looking at the floor as we walked to the deli just down the street from our building. “Listen, if it's ok, I’m just going to go home. I can take my work with me so that I don't fall behind, and if there're any problems all you have to do is…” I cut her off there.

  “You’re going to go home, you’re going to get it all out, and if there are any emergencies, then we will deal with it.
Do you want to talk about it before you go? Sometimes it helps,” I tried to comfort her, but nothing was working.