Providence Series Books 1-4 Page 20

  Ava: Bar 2nite at 7.30. Bring Tony xxx

  Me: I don’t know, I think we’ll just stay in. We’re still tired after the trip, unpacking and work. xxx

  Ava: NO- u will b there toots <3

  Two minutes later, Tony walked in. “So we’re going to the bar tonight. What do I wear? Is it fancy?”

  “How did you know about that?”

  “Oh, Isla got a text from Scarlett, who got a text from Ava, who said that we had to be there at seven thirty,” he said, as if he’d met these people and knew who they were. I’d caught him up to speed on who was who, but Tony in Florida we had all joked that he’d never met a stranger, so I wasn’t all that surprised.

  “You can go and I’ll stay in, if you want?” I was trying to think of any way I could get out of it. I’d even throw myself down some stairs if it would work—not that we had any in the office, for some inconvenient reason.

  “Nope, chica, you are getting off that fat ass of yours and going out with your chins in the air and those big bumps on your chest out for the world to see. Maya Price doesn’t hide from pathetic, tiny-dicked pricks,” he finished with his hands on his hips, glaring at me.

  “Ahem,” came a deep voice from the door, making me jump while I lamented the fact that sadly Ren didn’t have a tiny dick. Looking over, I saw George standing there, looking uncomfortable.

  “Excuse me, I can hear my phone ringing,” the lying pussy said as he ran back to his desk, leaving me to face my uncle alone.

  “Hey, how’re things?”

  “I came to talk to you about the Mackays and their plans, but as much as it kills me to say this and go into girl territory…you and Ren done?” George asked, sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk.

  “Apparently so,” I said, picking up my pen and spinning it with my good hand.

  “Why?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but hey, you win some, you lose some.” Before he could reply to that, I launched into the Mackays’ requests, showing him the blueprints of the building and pointing to where I thought it could use some structural changes. He eventually signed off on it and left the office, going next door to speak to Luke.

  At six, I shut down my computer and was just leaving to get Tony when Luke caught my arm, stopping me. “You and Ren done, honey?”

  “Yup! You coming to Jilly’s tonight?”

  He looked behind me, and I turned and saw Isla standing there, smiling at him, and I realized that their relationship must have been more than I’d thought it was. I was happy for them, and relieved that Luke had gotten rid of that slut from before; I couldn’t help but think how I’d had that only days before, and now it was gone. On that thought, I needed to pull my panties up and move the hell on. People broke up every day. People got cheated on, beaten, recovered from cancer, or had terrible tragedies take away their homes; in the grand scheme of things, this was nothing.

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted my chin at Tony, letting him know we were ready. “See y’all tonight.”

  After a quick shower and reassuring Tony that wearing jeans and a shirt was all right, I got myself dressed and waited by the front door for him to finish off. What he was doing was anyone’s guess, because he’d looked perfect when I’d shouted out that I was ready, but after five minutes of waiting, I was done.

  “Tony, come on, we’re already late.”

  “Hold on to your wide load, My, I’m coming. Well, maybe not, but when Andy comes to visit, I’ll make sure he does that thing with his—”

  “Enough,” I shouted. The guy seriously overshared, and a lot of it was mentally scarring.

  “Crabby much?” he grumbled, walking to the door looking the same as he’d looked five minutes ago.

  As I drove us to Jilly’s, I pointed out all of the places of interest and what was good for what in Piersville. When we pulled up to the bar, he squealed and clapped his hands. “Oh my God, you didn’t tell me it was a Honky Tonk! If I’d known, I’d have worn my cowboy boots.”

  Rolling my eyes, I followed him inside, hearing him gasp as he took in the interior of the place. It looked a bit Honky Tonk outside, but inside it was a mix of everything and still managed to look beautiful and welcoming. Ava and Scarlett were sitting at a table to the right of the bar. As we walked towards them, I saw Ren, Mace, Cole, and some other guys sitting at a table and looking at me; I refused to give in and kept my eyes forward.

  Sitting down beside the girls, I introduced them to Tony. No sooner had I finished, though, than Scarlett was leaning forward. “Maya, you and Ren okay?”

  “I don’t know.” I focused my eyes on peeling off the label from my drink while Tony filled them in on what had happened.

  “Oh shit,” I heard from beside me, and I looked up when the sound of a screeching hawk filled the inside of the bar, and everyone turned to look in the direction that it came from.

  “Ren, baby!” I saw Francheska wearing practically nothing and running towards Ren with her boobs about to fall out.

  Looking at the table, all the guys were sitting with their eyes wide, looking at the freak show running towards them. Then she plonked her ass in his lap and cooed at him, and my stomach rolled as it all added up. That was why he’d broken up with me the way he had? The hurt and devastation in me turned hard and, sneering in his direction—which I was sure he caught by the way he froze—I turned back to the table and started up a conversation about anything but the asshole sitting behind us.

  Ren

  Five minutes earlier…

  When I’d seen Maya walk into the bar with Tony, it had taken everything inside me not to go up to her, especially when I saw the bandage on her hand. Something just wasn’t adding up for me with it all, and damn it I was more mature than this; I loved Maya more than anything, and I wanted to be with her. Acting like an immature jerk wasn’t going to fix this. After last night’s phone call, though, I needed some Dutch courage to approach her and beg for her forgiveness.

  “You gonna talk to her?” Cole asked beside me.

  “Yeah, in a second.” I took a long sip of my beer, trying to get the courage that alcohol gave people normally. It wasn’t working so far.

  “I still don’t think it’s what it looks like,” he said, leaning in closer to me. “Doesn’t it strike you as even slightly suspicious that it was Francheska of all people who just so happened to find it? I don’t think it was Maya’s ex…”

  Before he could go any further, my name was shrieked across the bar, and I watched in horror as Francheska threw herself onto my lap, and I had to catch her so that we didn’t fall off the stool. Luke was walking into the bar with Isla behind him. As he scanned the bar, he did a double-take in my direction at the bitch who sitting on my knee. I saw the moment it hit him, and from his reaction I knew I was in a ton of shit as he started in my direction after gently pushing Isla in the direction of Maya’s table.

  “Oh fuck,” I heard muttered from behind me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Luke, not even to tell the skank sitting on my knee to stop stroking the back of my neck with her claws. The only woman who had any right to touch me or sit on me was sitting at the nearby table and wouldn’t look in my direction.

  “Luke, it’s not worth it. Come and sit—” said the guy that I assumed was Tony as he walked up to the table, but he quickly cut off when Luke looked at him.

  “This,” he hissed, jerking his hand out at Francheska, looking at her like she was a piece of shit on the street, “is what you dumped Maya for? This is what you broke her heart for? This is what you strung her along for months for?” He leaned down so his face was close to mine. “I told you that you weren’t worthy of her and that you weren’t good enough for her. You swore to me that you would treat her with respect and that you loved her, you lying sack of shit!”

  As I went to reply and push the skank off my lap, Francheska held up her phone. “No, your cousin is nothing but a cheap whore.”

  The gasps at Maya’s table could be heard acro
ss the bar, which had gone silent the second Francheska had screeched my name. “Look, there’s the proof—she was in Florida getting back with her ex, so now that he’s free. Ren and I are together,” she finished, and slammed her lips down on mine, trying to press her tongue into my mouth. I froze in shock and then pulled away quickly. Over the bunny boiler’s shoulder, I saw Maya leaving the bar and looking over her shoulder at me with tears in her eyes. Oh, fuck, what had I done? I tried to get up to go after her, but Tony bent down, looking closely at the screen, blocking any moves I could make—well, aside from throwing Francheska at him and running out of the door after Maya.

  “Oh my God, why have you got a photo of my man on your phone crab factory? And you must be Ren; I’d say it was a pleasure after everything that I’d heard about you, but I’m one second away from—” Wait, his man? This was making even less sense to me now.

  “Leave it, Tony,” Luke interrupted, glaring at me. “You’ve just lost the best thing that ever happened to you, but don’t worry, man. In years to come, when she’s married to a guy who treats her like a princess, with his baby in her belly, I’ll make sure we laugh about this. If our families weren’t so close, I’d beat the shit out of you, but I reckon knowing how badly you fucked up will break you more than I could,” he growled, and turned around to walk out the door.

  Shoving Francheska away from me, I stood up and ran to my SUV to go after Maya, with Cole and Mace on my heels. I needed to speak to her, to explain and to tell her I hadn’t been kissing the psychotic bitch and that every word that she’d spewed had been bullshit.

  “Ren.” Mace grabbed my arm. “Give her time to calm down. That whole situation was so fucked up that right now if you go after her, you’re only going to make shit worse. Sober the fuck up, get your head into gear, and speak to her tomorrow.”

  “He’s right, bro,” Cole said, looking at me with pity. “Let’s head to Mace’s and talk shit out, then tomorrow you can talk to her.”

  Shaking my head, I got into Cole’s car and headed to Mace’s. I couldn’t lose her.

  After a bottle of Jack between the three of us and four hours of talking, we’d eventually passed out in Mace’s lounge. Waking up the next morning, I lay there feeling like shit and playing through it all in my head. I couldn’t get the look on Maya’s face as she left the bar out of my mind; it had been a mix of betrayal, heartbreak, disappointment, and almost hatred. Pretty much what I felt towards myself. I also couldn’t understand Francheska’s interest in me; we’d hardly spoken since we’d left high school, so why was she suddenly leading the one-woman Renwick Townsend fan group?

  I was struggling to remember everything we’d talked about last night, but with the mental image of Maya’s last look towards me right there in my mind, I felt my stomach churn. I ran to the bathroom, just getting there in time to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet, and heaving for long minutes after it until I slumped down next to the toilet with my back against the wall, panting.

  “There’s spare toothbrushes in the drawer there. Do us all a favor and use one, and then come out into the lounge. Cole has an idea,” Mace shouted through the door.

  Doing as he suggested and washing my face, I walked slowly back through, hoping that Cole’s idea was a good one and didn’t involve kidnapping her. Sitting down on the couch, I looked up as Mace passed me a cup of black coffee and waited for Cole to start.

  “Ren, I think the best course of action is for me to go and talk to Maya,” he began, using his formal tone. “I don’t want to get involved, but as it stands, I love that girl to pieces and hate that she’s hurting. I also don’t think she’ll be ready to see you and speak to you, man; you fucked up badly, even if you didn’t plan on last night happening.” Every word was like a knife to my heart.

  “I agree,” Mace’s deep voice sounded from beside me. “You’re in no state to see her and would probably make shit worse.”

  Looking down at my hands, I nodded. “Okay, whatever you think. Just make sure she’s alright, Cole, please.” I looked back up at him. “Her hand was bandaged, and she wasn’t walking properly still. I should be looking after her, not causing her more shit.”

  “I’ll do my best to try and fix it and find out about her hand and leg, I promise. Let’s get your car back to the house and you can speak to Mom; she’ll be able to give you ideas too while I talk to Maya. We need to keep our fingers crossed that we can figure out a way to fix this. Hell, cross everything. Fingers, toes…” He paused, frowning. “Hey, can you cross your balls?”

  Mace’s head snapped around to look at Cole with a horrified look on his face. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” he snapped, glaring at Cole. I was sure I had the same look on my face too; I mean, what the fuck?

  “What?” Cole asked, still looking deep in thought as we walked out the door.

  Jesus, this was the best I had to work with? I’m screwed!

  Cole

  Walking up to the door, I was worried about how Maya would act towards me. I mean, I knew it wasn’t me who was the twat, but Ren was my brother and all, so maybe she’d tell me to fuck off?

  Doing a mental inventory and remembering that, yes, I did have a pair of balls, I knocked on the front door and waited for someone to answer. After a couple of seconds, I heard shuffling coming towards me and took a deep breath as the door opened, and there stood Maya in a pair of leggings and a vest, looking hot as usual until I saw how swollen her eyes were.

  “Come here, gorgeous.” I held my arms out, hoping that she wouldn’t reject me. This girl meant a lot to me, and it broke my heart seeing how upset she was. Thankfully, she lunged forward, and I wrapped my arms around her as she sobbed into my shirt. I could hear cars driving behind me on the street, so I walked her backward into the house and shut the door. I knew I acted the dick, but that wasn’t all there was to someone sometimes; I had my reasons for it, and so far it had done me well, but there were exceptions to my rule.

  I picked her up and carried her to the couch and sat down with her on my lap, rocking her until her sobs calmed down. “You alright?”

  “I got snot on you,” she wailed. No matter how gross that was and how much I wanted to gag, only Maya could make snotting on me look and sound adorable. She had been so good for Ren, and everyone knew that they were meant to be together, so I needed to fix this.

  “Meh, what’s some boogers between family?” I snorted.

  “I’m not your family, though.” She looked so lost that I felt like kicking Ren’s ass, regardless of how torn up he was. Sitting back, I listened as she told me everything that had happened to her in Tampa. As she spoke about the accident and how close she’d been to getting hit, I froze; it sounded like someone had intentionally aimed for her with the SUV. She was so lucky just to get away with stitches, glue, and bruises.

  “What happened to Ren while I was away, Cole? Why did he do it, and with her of all people?” she asked as she finished her story.

  Leaning back, I explained it all to her. Around halfway through the story, I could see the look of devastation in her eyes had changed to cold fury.

  “He’s a fucking…he such a freaking…” She jumped up off my lap and started pacing in front of me. What do I do now? I thought frantically. Usually, I avoided tears and drama like the plague, but I couldn’t on this occasion and was now smack dab in the middle of it. Did I leave? Did I make a drink?

  Just as I was thinking about making a cup of tea or finding chocolate like they did in the movies, that guy Tony walked in wearing just a pair of boxers.

  “Oh my heavens and all things hot and holy, how many of you are there? Please tell me at least one of you is gay?” He’d gestured throughout, flinging his hands off to the left and right, so it took me a couple of seconds to catch up with what the hell he was saying.

  “Uh, not that I’m aware of. In fact, I think the answer is no to that.” I knew I was fidgeting, but come on. The closest I’d come to this was the drag queen strip club t
hat Brett and Ren had taken me to blindfolded for my birthday one year. That had been a sobering moment, when the blindfold had been pulled off and there had been this ‘woman’ grinding her junk in my face. To each their own. I wasn’t judging, but I liked being the only one with the dick in a relationship.

  “Why is God so cruel?” he squealed, dropping back onto the sofa with his hand on his forehead, making me laugh. I think I like this guy, I thought, and I knew Ren would appreciate the humor too.

  Maya interrupted the dramatic moment and, still pacing, filled him in on what had happened, bringing us back on track.

  “What a stupid twat,” Tony said, standing with his hands on his hips and starting to pace too. Is this part of the healing process? Should I be doing this too? “The Andy in that photo isn't Maya's ex; he's a different Andy who was my ex until that night. Bad timing I know, I mean getting back together just as I'm leaving. How can it work? I agree...." I tuned him out as he rambled on, flinging his hands and arms around again.

  “That’s exactly what I said. Anyone want some tea?” I slapped my knee, jumped up, and headed in the direction of the kitchen and went searching for tea, chocolate, and ice cream, all of which Maya had none of. Fabulous!

  Walking back into the living room empty-handed, I found Tony was gone and Maya was sitting on the couch, staring into space. “You okay, beautiful?” What had I missed?

  “I can’t believe he thought that little of me, Cole. I was almost killed, and my phone was crushed by the car that should have hit me, so I couldn’t call him—because who remembers numbers these days? And he believes the first bullshit story he hears about me?”

  Seeing as how I agreed with what she was saying, I guessed I had to go back to Ren and tell him he had his work cut out for him, the tit flap. For now, though, I asked, “Hey, want me to go to the store and get some ice cream and chocolate? Anything you want or need, so long as it’s not tampons.” I shuddered at the thought. That shit was just so fucked up.

  Maya burst out laughing, and I’ll admit, but never out loud, that if at that moment she’d asked me to buy tampons, I’d have done it in a heartbeat.