Chapter 4
FOUR
Mase
“Someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” I demand.
Charlie turns, picking up his jacket and sliding it on. “Nina works at The Earl Marks.”
“What?” I frown, trying to decipher what he’s saying. “No, she fucking doesn’t.”
“Yes, she does.” Elliot runs his hand across his face as he watches me. “She needed a job that would cover the bills.”
“The dance lessons do cover the bills.”
“No, they don’t. There are no lessons.” Charlie’s jaw tics at that confession. “She asked us not to tell you. You just presumed.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yell, making them all wince. “When does she teach?”
“She doesn’t. She hasn’t danced since she had Ellis,” Lance voices. “Fuck, I’m sorry mate. I didn’t think when you told me this morning.”
My nostrils flare as I clench my fists. “What the fuck!”
“Calm down. She doesn’t work Fridays. We can get Jasmine out of there before her next shift.” Elliot tries to reassure me, but it does nothing to ease the rage I feel inside.
“Jesus Christ.”
I’ve put the woman who technically split us up in the hotel Nina works at?
And Nina fucking loves to dance. It was the only thing that ever meant something to her.
How can she just give up on that? I think back to the night before, and what she was wearing.
Her top and skirt hugged her slender body.
I couldn’t look at her without feeling every fucked-up emotion possible.
Why did I not notice the skirt? Nina doesn’t wear fucking skirts.
Lance stands. “I’ll go get Jasmine. Don’t stress on this, mate. Where’s Vin?”
“Fuck off, Sullivan, I’ll sort it myself.” I don’t need Vinny involved in this. I knew if I told him about putting Jasmine up and making her give up Betty, that he would meddle. Maybe if I had told him, then this wouldn’t have happened.
I pick up my suit jacket from the back of my chair and throw it over my arm, then grab my keys from the drawer. “Next time you fuckers think about lying to me, consider what that might mean for the person you think you’re protecting. Fucking interfering pricks.”
“She trusts us, Lowell,” Elliot says to my back. “You can’t blame us for trying to keep that.”
Without looking back, I continue through the door, pissed that he’s right.
Nina
Fridays at The Earl Marks—what an eye-opener.
I thought I had it tough on my Monday shift, but this is next level busy.
When Rochelle called and asked me to cover today, I knew I had to do it.
I at least need to be available for the first couple months to cover extra shifts.
She said she needed someone who is flexible, and I’m only able to offer her two days a week.
How I got this job is beyond me. Money, Nina. Think of the money.
With renewed determination, I heave up the sheets from the floor and place them onto the trolley, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. Damn, it’s hot up here.
“Nina, you can stop for lunch now, lovely. Karen and the girls have already gone down,” Emily, I think her name is, tells me, poking her head in the door.
Everyone is so much nicer in housekeeping. That’s one thing I haven’t missed today. Rochelle.
“I’m just finishing up in here and I’ll come down.” I smile.
She checks out my trolley then comes into the room. “Well, two hands will get the job done quicker,” she says, rounding the bed.
“Thanks,” I tell her as she grasps the other side of the sheet I was fitting.
“You’ve taken to this quickly today; you normally work down on reception?”
“Yeah, although I hate it down there.” Crap, should I say that. “Not hate, hate is a strong word. It’s a lot some days.” God Nina, you work two days a week.
“It’s fine, everyone hates front of house, and there’s a quick turnaround down there. Other than Ash—she’s been here for years now.”
“I think that has more to do with—” I pause, would Ash mind me talking about this? I don’t even know Emily.
“Hadley?” She laughs. “’Cause you’re right if that’s what you were about to say.”
I relax, feeling like she’s safe to rant to. “She is a saint!” I chuckle. “Rochelle is scary, Ashley puts up with A LOT.”
“Yeah, not many people click with her.”
“I get it. She’s the manager, but Jesus. Why be so mean? We call her the she-devil.”
“Nina—”
“It wouldn’t shock me if she grew actual horns.”
A throat clears behind me. I bring my eyes up to Emily, who is staring at me with wide eyes, giving me a barely noticeable shake of the head.
“She-devil?” Rochelle snaps.
I clench my teeth, cringing as my shoulders tense. Fuck.
“Please, at least get creative.” She looks me up and down as if I’m the filth on the bottom of her shoe. “You’re lucky to have the friends that you do. I’ve fired people for a lot less.”
“I’m really sorry, Roch—”
“No, you’re not.” She rolls her eyes and leaves the room.
“Oh my god!” Emily whispers, falling to the bed in laughter.
I can feel my cheeks burning, they must be bright red. “Stop! This is mortifying.”
She rolls to her belly and looks up at me in question. “Are you sleeping with one of the boys?”
“Who?”
“The boys? One of the sons?”
I lift the corner of the mattress and fold the sheet under. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“The notorious Arlelly brothers. You must have some pull here to not be out on your ass.”
“No! I’m not sleeping with anyone! You think she should have fired me?”
“No, of course not. But she would have normally. She said, ‘you’re lucky you know the people you do’,” she mimics.
No, she said I was lucky to have the friends I do… I instantly think about Elliot and how he told me about the job.
Fuckers.
“Come on, get this done and we can grab lunch. Before the she-devil comes back.” She chuckles.
“Shhh.” I giggle. “We’ll be out on our arses in a minute.”
We finish up the room and are halfway down the corridor with our trolley when a flash of blonde catches my eye. A woman squeezes herself past us as she rushes to her room. I push forward on the metal handles, but something in my gut gnaws at me to turn around.
She is swiping her key card, and I can only see the side of her face, but she looks upset.
I think I recognise her.
As if she knows she’s being watched, she looks straight at me, her bloodshot eyes pinching in at the corners as they drop down my frame.
I give a small smile, being polite. I can see she’s been crying.
She isn’t like the other guests we have at The Earl Marks.
She looks… a bit of a mess. She turns away, swiping her card again, and then disappears into the room.
“Come on, there will be nothing left in the kitchen in a minute.” Emily smiles, pulling on the trolley to urge me along.
I’m walking towards the lifts on my way back from lunch when I spot Mason. He’s climbing from his Bentley, his powerful legs eating up the asphalt as he makes his way to the entrance of The Earl Marks.
“Mason? Is everything okay?” I ask, concerned as I push out through the main doors. Lucy would have called me if something was wrong with Ellis.
His eyes go wide when he spots me.
“Nina, you don’t normally work today?”
“I’m covering, is something wrong? Ellis is with Lucy.” Mason shouldn’t even know I work here, which means Lucy, or someone has told him. Panic fills me. I pull my phone from my pocket to check for missed calls.
“Uh, no. No, Ellis is fine,” he tells me, rubbing his thumb over his jaw. “I could’ve had Ellis today. You should’ve called.”
“I know you work Fridays.” I shrug, feeling awkward. “Luce had holiday to use, it’s fine.” If Ellis isn’t the reason he’s here… “Why are you here?”
He stuffs his hands in his pockets, looking at the cars buzzing around us before bringing his eyes back to me.
And he has me, just like that, locked in a stare so intense I’m bolted to the concrete beneath my feet.
I wish I could see deeper into those eyes.
I swear the depths of their darkness matches my soul.
They feel like home, weirdly. “I have a meeting with a client.” His jaw flexes.
“Here?” I question, swallowing past the lump that sets my voice wavering.
He continues to stare at me, unrelenting. “Yes.”
“Oh.” I realise this is probably the most we have said to each other since Ellis was born, and the majority of the conversation is being spoken with our eyes. The thought makes my face flush. “I’ll let you get on then.”
I thought I’d hate him. I expected to hate him. But I don’t. The anger is still there in my gut, but it doesn’t burn as fiercely as it once did. I could never trust nor love him again, not willingly anyway. But if I can, I want to be amicable. For our son.
“I’m still picking Ellis up tonight. Five fifteen.” His gaze drops down the length of me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Is he doing this on purpose?
“Umm, yeah.” I nod. “Actually…” I consider asking him to come later. I won’t see Ellis until Sunday, and I’ve been at work since his nap this morning. But this is Mason’s time, and I can’t take that from him. It wouldn’t be fair. “No, never mind.”
“What is it?” he asks, tipping his chin up, and I can’t help but focus on the movement.
Why is he so fucking hot? It’s not fair. He has more than a day’s worth of stubble lining his angular jaw. He seems fitter, sharper. More. I’m completely transfixed on him. Shit. I snap out of it.
I need to get away from him. Now!
“It’s fine, honest, five fifteen is great,” I rush out, turning and jogging back inside without saying goodbye. Rochelle spots me hurrying through the door and gives me an evil eye.
Not now Satan.
Mase
I wait until Nina is inside then turn around and walk back towards my car.
Of course, she’s fucking working today.
Pulling out my phone, I pull up Jasmine’s number. I haven’t checked on her today, and I know she will be upset. The social worker was there as promised this morning. Seeing Jasmine break down wasn’t high on my list of ways to start a Friday morning, but I know it was the right thing to do.