Chapter 10
TEN
Nina
Stripping naked wasn’t my intention and looking back now, I wish the ground would have swallowed me up whole. So much needed to be said to Mason, but in my drunken state, I somehow believed I needed to be bare to say it.
Maggie sets a mug of hot water down in front of me.
The only upside to going out last night is the Sunday dinner that Maggie has been prepping all morning.
Mason was gone when I woke up this morning, and he’d thankfully already picked Ellis up from Maggie’s before I arrived.
It’s his weekend with Mason, and I know that he will want the day with him after missing last night.
“So, tell me about this new job.” Maggie lifts my legs and sits at the other end of the sofa, then places them back down on her lap.
“It’s three days a week to start, which I know is more than I was doing at the hotel, but I can get Mason to help, still.”
“Nina, please. I want to help. Unless you would rather have Mason take the time off. But otherwise, let me help you. Please.”
“I can’t help but feel bad, like I’m putting you out.”
She gives me a look that basically means shut up.
“Are you sure, Mags? Shouldn’t you speak to John first too? It will be later evenings sometimes.”
“Jesus Christ, just let her have the damn kid,” Lucy grumbles from the opposite sofa.
“Lucy Mae Morgan! That is your nephew you are talking about,” Maggie scolds.
“I have a headache, Mum. Don’t pick on me today.”
I shake my head and laugh. Lucy’s definitely feeling it more than me. She managed to get out of bed when I arrived but hasn’t moved from the sofa since.
“Go shower, you smelly child.” Maggie whacks her with a cushion on her way to the kitchen, making her groan.
“I can feel your porny eyes on me,” she says, muffled against the pillow.
“Porny.” I chuckle.
“Yes.” She leans up on her elbows and looks into the kitchen to see if Maggie’s listening. “I feel honoured you’ve managed to keep your clothes on today.”
“Funny.” I give her a death stare. “How did you get home last night anyway?” I change the subject, not needing a reminder of the night before.
Lucy sighs and covers her face with her forearm. “How do you think?”
“A taxi?”
She peeks out under her arm with a frown.
“Well Ell didn’t drive you that’s for sure. He was just as steaming as you. What happened with Miller?”
“He wanted to film us… you know. But he didn’t ask, I caught the light flashing on the sideboard while he was… doing his thing,” she whispers, pointing to her crotch. “You probably would’ ve loved it.” She smirks at me.
“Oh, give it up already. I was naked for twenty seconds. Stop being judgy!” I roll my eyes. “What an ass though. What was he thinking?”
“I probably overreacted but it pissed me off, Elliot was raged.”
“You told Ell?”
“I tell him everything.”
“Did anything happen when he brought you home last night?”
“Umm, no.”
“That doesn’t sound all that convincing.”
“Girls, can you lay the table? Lunch is ready in ten,” Maggie calls from the kitchen.
Lucy jumps up from the sofa, moving quicker than she has all morning. I glare at her as she whips past me.
The table isn’t as busy as it normally is and that has a lot to do with the fact Vinny isn’t here. I haven’t spoken to him yet and I know I need to, and as much as it upsets me, I know that sometimes I won’t be the one his loyalties lie with.
John sits at the head of the table, with Maggie to his left and Lucy at his right. I sit next to Lucy.
“Good night I gather, girls?” John asks.
“Nina had a great night.” Lucy laughs, shoving a mouthful of cabbage in her mouth.
I glare at the side of her head and will her to stop talking. The Morgans can take the banter. I’ve grown up on it. But I don’t need them knowing what I get up to after dark.
She snickers to herself, and I give her a kick.
“Ow!” she snaps.
“Not nice being the butt of the joke, is it, Nina love.” John smiles warmly over at me, always defending me.
“Dad, please, will you save the butt puns for Tuesdays only!”
“Oh my god, you didn’t.” I choke, trying to swallow around my mouthful of food.
“I did.” She chuckles.
Maggie and John laugh along with us with no clue as to why. Their joy is simple and comes from us. I want that one day.
“Come on, girls, let’s not get nasty.” Maggie smiles, placing her cutlery on her plate. “Elliot left some cake this morning. Who wants some? Freya is an incredible baker.”
“Ell was here this morning?” I frown, looking at Lucy, who takes a large gulp of water.
“He dropped Lucy home.” Maggie stands, patting down her apron before excusing herself from the table.
“Of course he did.” I bring my eyes to Lucy.
“Shut up,” she huffs, shovelling in more food.
“You had a sleepover?” I turn in my seat and make myself comfortable. “You didn’t mention it.”
“Must’ve slipped my mind.” She doesn’t look at me.
“I bet it did. You stayed at his?”
“I think I will retire to the sofa for this conversation,” John says, leaving us at the table alone.
Lucy sits quiet, flipping her fork absentmindedly.
“I have all da—”
“Nothing happened,” she interrupts.
I recoil. “Nothing?”
“Nope, nothing, nada.”
“Why?”
She bites her lip, looking over at me. “I have no idea.” She smiles sadly. “But for the first time ever, I think I wanted something to happen. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, and I’m pretty sure he felt it too.”
“Well shit.” I sit back in my chair, my shoulders dropping.
“Uh-huh.”
One thing I didn’t anticipate with my new job was getting there, which is why I’m out of breath jogging up Joey’s apartment building steps.
I knock on the door once, then walk in.
“Joe?”
“Yo!” he calls out, poking his head out of the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”
“I need a lift! Can you give me a lift?” I say, breathless.
“Where’s Ellis?”
“Maggie, she picked him up this morning. I planned to run in, but I left it too late.”
“Where’s Vinny?” he asks.
I sigh, getting impatient with him. “I know you’re busy, but I really need a lift in please, Joe.”
“Of course, here.” He picks up his keys and tosses them to me. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Thank you!”
He climbs into the car ten minutes later and passes me a coffee cup. “Sorry, I had to get the print finished.”
“It’s fine. Thank you for driving me. I know you’re busy.”
He waves me off, pulling out onto the road. “You had a good weekend? I didn’t see you,” he asks, relaxing into the seat.
“Yeah, I went out for Elliot’s birthday, didn’t I?”
“I remember” He turns to look at me. “Mase was there?”
“Yup.”
He grins wide. “How’d that go?”
I shake my head, a small smile making my dimple pop. “How do you think?”
“Humour me.” He slides his hands around the steering wheel, dropping his head back to the seat.
“We bickered. He told me we were leaving—”
“And you left,” he finishes for me, dropping his head to the side to look at me.
“Not willingly.”
“You wanted to.”
“Fuck off.”
“You can deny it all you want, you’ve been different since you started seeing him again.”
“No, I haven’t,” I snap.
“That right there is what I’m talking about.” He nods at me. “He seems to bring the bitch out in you.”
“Joe!”
He shrugs unapologetically. “Facts.”
“Let me out here.”
He rolls his eyes and carries on driving. “Don’t be a queen.”
“I know you don’t like Mason—”
“Understatement—”
“But he is Ellis’s dad. I have to make this work.”
“I know, I know, and I want that for Ellis. But you’re stressing about it and you shouldn’t. He will fuck it up long before you do. I’m not holding out much hope on the bloke.”
If only he knew why I was stressing. It’s definitely not because of Ellis.
“Speak of the devil,” Joey mutters.
I snap my eyes to his and he nods in the rearview mirror. I turn in my seat and spot the Bentley behind us.
“Balls.”
Joey indicates and pulls into the curb. “You can’t drop me here!” I watch in horror as the Bentley pulls in behind us.
“That’s the gym, isn’t it?” He frowns as he watches Mason park behind us. “What’s he doing?”
“He works just up the road.” Damn it, this is fucking perfect. Trust today of all days for him to drive himself to work. Where’s Vinny?
“Why’s he stopping there?” Joey asks.
“I don’t know, Joey.”
“He can’t park there. It’s short stay only.”
I grab my bag and go to get out of the car. “Do you need a lift home?” he asks.
“No, I’ll run back tonight. Thank you for this morning.”
He waits for me to climb from his car before driving off. I lick my lips, hoping Mason is out of his car and gone already, but not daring to look over my shoulder to check. I take one step in the direction of the gym doors and a horn blares.
I close my eyes and count to five, then take another step.
It sounds again, this time over and over in short succession, as if the executor is a total prick. Reluctantly, I spin, and what would you know? He sits looking out the windscreen at me, his arm resting on his door and his pointer finger running over his lips.
Prick.
He crooks his finger, summoning me.
I walk to the passenger side window and wait for him to undo it. “Get in,” he mouths.
“What? No.”
“Get in now.” I can’t hear him fully, but his lips move with warning.
“Open the window, Mason!” People stare as I stand yelling at him through the glass.
He sits, waiting.
Fuming mad, I wrench open the door, dropping into the seat and then slamming it shut as hard as I can. The windows shake with the force.
“Trying to mess up my car again?” He glares.
Trust him to throw that in my face. My gaze flicks over him quickly, his woodsy scent making me heady and stupid for him. “What do you want?”
“Why are you here?” he asks, his eyes raking down my body.
“Seriously? That’s all you wanted.”
“You’re going to the gym?” He tips his chin in question. “Where’s Ellis?”
The nerve of this asshole. “I’m going to work. Which I planned to tell you about yesterday but you sent Elliot to drop off instead of coming yourself. Ellis is with Maggie today.”
“You’re working at L&M now?”
“Yes.”