Forbidden Gold (Providence Gold Book 5) Read online

  “Wait,” Sadie suddenly said loudly, all of our eyes moving to her. “This guy made you…” she broke off and started laughing.

  Not aware of what had been revealed by Ramona only five minutes ago to the rest of the bar, Chris and Parker frowned and looked at each other to see if the other one knew who she was talking about.

  Sinking slightly on her barstool, Ramona huffed, “No, it wasn’t him.”

  Chris’s confusion grew. “Wasn’t me who did what?”

  By this point, Sadie was bent over with her head hanging down, the only sign of what she was doing shown by her shaking shoulders. Beau had moved to the other end of the bar, but she was listening in as much as she could, her teeth imbedded in her lower lip as she tried not to laugh.

  That meant it was just me watching the car crash that was about to happen.

  Looking at me for help, Parker asked, “What’s going on?”

  Spinning back to face the bar, I noticed there were two inches of liquid—well, rum—still in the bottom of my glass, so I made a point of drinking it slowly, cursing inside my head.

  “Ariana,” he growled, sending a delicious shiver through my body. God, I loved it when he growled. “What’s going on?”

  Thankfully, one of the regulars who was well into his fifth drink of the night answered for me. “See,” he snickered, raising his glass to get their attention, “your chickadee there was dumped tonight. Something happened in the bedroom that shouldn’t have, and we’re all wondering if it was you who was part of it.”

  Well, that was impressive for someone who was almost drunk. How diplomatic could you get?

  Taking a step closer to me, Parker shook his head. “I’ve never touched her.”

  Chris frowned as we looked at him. “It wasn’t me.”

  Almost like it was choreographed, all of us turned back to Ramona, who was chewing on her fingernail now.

  “Well, that’s a shame,” Sadie wheezed, her head finally coming up as she leaned on the bar with one arm and wiped her face with the other hand.

  Looking around all of us, Chris asked, “Why do I feel like I’m missing out on something?”

  Not missing a beat, Sadie replied, “Could have been worse, mate. You could be the butt of the joke right now.”

  And that’s when I lost it. Completely, totally and utterly lost it as I burst out laughing so hard I had to grab onto the bar with both hands to stop myself from falling off the stool. I heard phones beeping through the pounding in my head and both men swearing as they said goodbye. I didn’t even stop as Parker kissed me on the top of my head, using my current state to get closer to me than I’d have let him normally.

  When it finally passed, I took deep, gulping breaths and used a napkin to wipe under my eyes.

  With a small grin on her face, Sadie shouted to Beau, “Girls night in. Lock ‘em up, and let’s hit it.”

  Two

  Parker

  I didn’t usually need a lot of sleep. I could thank years of being on call and emergencies happening and my personal issues for that, but this morning, I felt it more than usual. Thanks to three cars hitting each other last night, I’d been at the hospital until three o’clock. It was now eight o’clock in the morning, and I was coming in from my run, with my legs feeling like I had concrete wrapped around them.

  I’d just put my key into the door when my phone started ringing, making my stomach sink at the thought of having to go back into the hospital.

  Pulling it out of the band on my arm, I frowned when I saw Tate’s name on the screen and answered as I pushed the door open. “Hey, what’s up?”

  I’d grown up with the Townsends and Montgomerys in Piersville, so I’d known them for most of my life. Apart from my little brother Dale, they’d been the most reliable thing in it, regardless of their craziness. In fact, I could confirm that if it hadn’t been for them, I probably wouldn’t have ended up the way I had.

  But that took me down a road of memories and thoughts I didn’t want to go down ever again.

  “You seen my sister? Levi took her car from Lily’s bar last night, and I just went to check on her, but she’s not home.”

  Doing an about-turn, I stalked back toward my door, throwing it open and heading for my car.

  “She was at the bar last night, that’s the last time I saw her. Fuck, Tate,” I hissed, jogging down to where my vehicle was parked. “Why didn’t he take her with him?”

  I heard a car door closing on his end just as I got behind the wheel of my SUV. “Because she was having a girl’s night. Beau rang Lily and asked if it was okay to have some drinks after the bar closed. Levi asked if she wanted a ride when he went in for her keys, but she said she’d be good there.”

  That wasn’t fucking good enough. It had been hours since I’d seen her there. Anything could have happened.

  The thoughts and possibilities going through my brain were not good ones. I’d seen too much, experienced too much, and let’s face it—the Townsends attracted trouble.

  Before I could say anything else, he muttered, “I’ve just got to the bar, and I’m looking through the window at two sleeping women.”

  I was only thirty seconds away from the bar now. “Hang tight until I get there in case they need a doctor.”

  He saw them sleeping, I saw possibilities like them being bludgeoned or raped and posed in those positions by a psychopath. Had I come across that personally? Thankfully no, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t a possibility, and I didn’t want him causing Ariana any more injuries.

  “Parker, from the looks of it, they tied one on last night and passed out where they were,” he tried to reassure me, but it wasn’t worth taking the risk.

  Pulling up behind him, I hit the button on my steering wheel to end the call and reached for my emergency bag in the backseat. Getting out, I ran up to where he was standing with his key in the lock, his eyebrows raised as he saw the bag in my hand.

  Not waiting for him to say anything, I gestured for him to open the door and walked in behind him, stopping when I saw that what he’d said was more than likely what had happened. Both women, one blonde, one brunette, were lying on the top of two tables right in front of the bar. Behind them on the bar top were two empty bottles of tequila and what looked like the remnants of margaritas in glasses and a blender.

  Snorting, Tate walked up to the bar, picked up the blender to give it a sniff, and gagged at whatever fumes reached him from it.

  “I think it’s pure alcohol,” he choked, looking around at the empty bottles and then back down at the jug.

  Then, he put it on its base and flipped the switch. The sound of the blender running loudly broke the silence in the bar and made both women’s bodies jerk.

  The blonde, who I remembered was called Sadie and from the UK, sat up straight and then pretty much melted as she slid under the table.

  Groaning, Ari lifted her head, a large clump of hair sticking up in the air. “What’s happening?”

  Not pausing the machine, Tate grinned evilly at me.

  “We’re at war,” Sadie shouted and then groaned. “Save yourself.”

  Blinking slowly, Ari turned her head toward her brother. “Why? Why do you hate me?’

  Moving away from the machine, he shook his head as he lifted up an empty bottle. “Two bottles of tequila? Really?”

  “Actually, it was two bottles of tequila, a bottle of rum, and…” Sadie rasped from her hiding place, gagging before she could finish the list.

  “Lily said it was okay,” Ariana croaked and lay her head down again, this time with her face in my direction. “We put money in the office.”

  Moving closer to her table, I dropped the bag on the ground and crouched down beside her. Picking up her wrist, I took her pulse and assessed her visually. Once I’d been reassured by her pulse, I moved the chunk of hair that’d fallen over her eyes and then gently stroked her forehead with my thumb. Her eyes flickered open, and she blinked slowly until I came into focus.

  “You
’re lucky the two of you don’t have alcohol poisoning, Ari,” I admonished.

  Frowning, she lifted her head again and looked around the bar. “Two of us? Where’s Beau?”

  Before I could move, she was pushing up and staggering around the side of the bar toward where the office and bathrooms were.

  As she passed Sadie, the woman lifted her hand up and then let it drop back down on the table with a thud. “Cupboard. Try the cupboard.”

  Weaving toward a door at the mouth of the hall, Ari tried to get the handle and missed.

  “Christ, what a state,” Tate sighed and moved her, so she was resting against the wall facing the door. “You’ll be feeling this for a while. And I doubt Beau’s in the… Wait, what’s that?”

  Following where he was pointing, I saw a chunk of hair coming out from under the door. Moving to open it carefully, I tried to see what it was through the darkness inside the cupboard, but it wasn’t until the door was fully open that it made sense.

  Lying in the fetal position was Beau. She’d gotten as far as getting into the cupboard before she’d passed out and had somehow moved, so her hair was under the door. I doubt I’d ever be able to understand precisely how, but seeing as how the hair was still attached to her head, there was no doubt about it.

  Flinching when she opened her eyes, she whined, “The world’s on fire.”

  “It’s ‘cos we’re at war,” Sadie called back. “Save yourself.”

  Turning so her back was to us, Beau curled up even tighter. “Leave me to die.”

  Hearing Tate groan, I looked back and saw Ari had sunk to the ground at some point and was now in a similar position to Beau.

  Not saying a word, Tate walked past me and back to the bar.

  “What are you going to do?” I shouted, keeping my eyes on both women in case one of them threw up and choked on it.

  “Hair of the dog, man. And they’re all going to drink it.”

  Wincing, I crouched down and took in the beauty that was Ariana Townsend. The woman was an enigma to everyone apart from me. On the outside, people saw a strong, beautiful, confident woman who had a shield around her you had to work on to get through. They didn’t know that on the inside was the most beautiful human to walk the earth. If you were fortunate enough to crack that shield, her loyalty was fierce, and she loved deeply.

  But she also hurt deeply and kept it all inside. Her insecurities outweighed her logic and ate away at her.

  I’d fought against it for so long until it had become pointless, and I’d wanted to kick myself for hurting her. As the man who wanted to protect her from the hurt, knowing I’d caused her some had eaten away at me. She didn’t trust me now, and I couldn’t blame her for that given how hard I’d pushed away from her, but I was going to earn her trust back.

  I was also going to be her shield and protect her from being hurt as much as I could. That’s why I’d moved here.

  She was my everything, and it was time she realized that.

  Twenty-six minutes later…

  The sound of three women throwing up reverberated around the walls of the women’s bathroom as Tate and I leaned against the sinks with bottles of water ready for them.

  “What did you give them?”

  Wincing at one incredibly painful wretch, Tate murmured, “It’s something Gramps gave me when I was seventeen and found a bottle of whiskey. I think I might have fucked up the recipe, though.”

  “Stick a fork in me, I’m done,” Sadie croaked.

  “I want to die,” Beau whimpered, punctuating it with another round of puking. “Is that blood?”

  “Clamato juice,” Tate shouted, making them all start up again.

  “What the hell’s Clamato?” Sadie asked, not sounding as bad as the other two now.

  Well, that was until Tate filled her in. “Clams and tomato juice.”

  This time her puking noises outdid the other two.

  “I lost a lung,” Ari gasped mid hurl. “Tate, you’re dead.”

  The smug smile on his face faltered slightly, and I knew why. Ariana had put up with her brothers all her life, and they’d tormented her and played pranks on her until she learned a few of her own. Ones that hit harder than anything they’d ever done to her. She was vindictive as fuck.

  Finally, after ten minutes of purging their systems, the doors opened one-by-one, and three women who looked like hell stumbled out.

  Apparently I’d spent too much time with the Townsends because both Tate and I pulled our phones out at the same time and started taking photos of them.

  Pushing Tate out of the way of the sink, Beau mumbled, “You suck.”

  “If you’re going to try and kill us, can you at least wait until I have my makeup on?” Sadie rasped as she washed her hands, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ for some reason.

  Glancing over at her and frowning, Beau asked, “Girl, did we miss your birthday?”

  “Nope. You’re meant to sing it twice while you wash your hands to make sure you washed them long enough to kill all the germy germs,” she replied straight-faced. “And considering I’ve just been holding onto a toilet, I think that’s a good idea.”

  Just like that, both Ari and Beau squirted more soap into the palms of their hands and started rasping out the song.

  “This is like the strangest moment I think I’ve ever experienced,” Tate said wide-eyed.

  Not missing a beat, Ari muttered, “We’re from the same family, so I know you’re lying out of your ass.”

  Then, leaning over her sink, she splashed her face and washed her mouth out while Sadie did the same.

  “I made coffee,” Tate offered.

  Like a switch had been flicked, Sadie’s face turned from pain to ecstatic. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Cheers, mate!” And then she practically skipped out of the bathroom, leaving us with the other two who weren’t quite as happy about it.

  “Um, I have a question,” Tate started, his lips twitching. “There’s an application form on the bar, and the recruitment pack for employees has been completed. You’re leaving Townsend Oil to come and work here, Na-Na?”

  Both women stared blankly back at him, the information taking time to sink in.

  Ari did a lot of the admin for the oil company and every so often visited some of the sites, but I know she wasn’t happy doing it. She was an active person, but she was also a guarded person. Would working behind the bar be better for her mentally and emotionally? It might draw her out of her shell, get her to lower her shield, and open up.

  And I’d also have easier access to her here.

  Chewing her lower lip, she glanced at Beau and broke into a huge smile. “Guess that makes you my boss.”

  Apparently Beau wasn’t fully back online yet because she just grunted and moved past everyone to the door. When she got to it, she looked back over her shoulder. “Coffee. Now.”

  Ari stumbled slightly as she followed behind her, leaving Tate and me to bring up the rear.

  “Hey, Parker,” he whispered, grabbing my arm and stopping me just in front of the door. “Wanna hear something awesome?”

  “Always.”

  “After the fire, Lily and her dad installed security cameras everywhere. Besides the bathrooms, there isn’t a spot in the bar that doesn’t have a camera on it.”

  The implications sank in, and I burst out laughing. “When are we watching it?”

  “You get the popcorn, and we’ll meet at mine once we’ve got them moving. The Saturday lunch crew will be in soon, so we’ll drop them off at their homes first.”

  Three

  Ariana

  Picking up some empty bottles as I passed a table, I made my way behind the bar to drop them off in the large bucket dedicated to glass, checking first that they weren’t ones that went back to a brewery.

  Grimacing at how sticky my hands felt, I moved over to the sink near Sadie and listened in to what she was saying to the person she was serving. Apparently her second wind had faded, and now her hangover was cat
ching up with her again. I really liked her, she was hilarious, but there was also something about her that seemed like she was wounded deep down that made me want to protect her, too.

  “Know what I mean? Is there any reason to be so bloody rude about it? Tell me this—using a British word for something, is it really that offensive to you?”

  The man she was serving gulped and shook his head. “No.”

  “Right? All I did was ask for tinned tomatoes, I didn’t need a bleeding lecture on the pronunciation of the word. Then she launches into a rant about red sauce and whatever other shit. Like, you’re putting tomatoes into it, of course it’s bloody red. I’m making Bolognese, not carbonara. If you went to Italy, they wouldn’t say, ‘oh, do you want red sauce with that?’, would they?”

  Relaxing slightly, the man shot her a grin. “Probably not, babe.”

  Nodding her head, she wiped down the bar. “Exactly. Oh, and don’t get me started on that garden bullshit either. I’ve got the details from an estate agent for six properties, and only one of them lists the green area around them as a yard. Know what the rest have written on them?”

  Raising his eyebrows, he guessed, “A garden?”

  “Yes,” Sadie shouted, smacking her hand down on the bar. “A freaking garden. Not a lawn, not a yard, a garden. And if you go to a home improvement store, what do you look for on a sign if you want to get stuff for that green area? Do they have a lawn or yard department? No, it’s the garden or gardening department. Why split hairs about it, then?”

  Leaning onto the bar, I asked the man, “What did you say to start her off?”

  “I can’t remember now, but I’m definitely coming back here again,” he assured me and picked up the tray of drinks next to him, taking it to a table with five men waiting for them.

  I was about to ask Sadie if she was okay when the front door opened, and in walked one of my favorite humans in the world—my grandad. Scanning the bar, he waved and smiled at the patrons he recognized and then stopped when he saw me, grinning widely as he made his way over to where I was.