Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Nina
I push out through the apartment doors of Joey’s building and hurry towards the taxi that’s idling at the curb. I step back so the gentleman that is climbing from it can retrieve his coat then pull open the passenger door.
“Can I get in? I only have Apple pay.”
“Sure.”
Feeling relieved, I climb into the front seat and quickly close my eyes. Mason will be bringing Ellis home soon, but I don’t want Joey coming after me.
“Rough morning?”
My eyes open and I turn to look at the driver. He gives me a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes, then looks back to the road. “Yeah. It’s been a day already.”
Joey tried to kiss me.
Tears fill my eyes and I try to blink them away.
I feel so stupid for all the times I defended him.
I know he’s hurting and he never would’ve done this if he wasn’t, but Mason doesn’t deserve it.
Not when he’s always believed Joey’s intentions weren’t pure.
Maybe they weren’t. But I trusted him to be my friend.
I know this will hurt Mason. He’ll be furious.
I text Mason and tell him that I’ll meet him at his.
I know I have to tell him. After the weekend we’ve had together, I know we need to be honest with one another going forward. This has to work out. There’s no one else I want to do this with.
I get to the penthouse and make my way to the elevator, using the code Vinny gave me last week. My phone rings just as the doors start to close. It’s Mason.
“Hey.”
“Hey, you’re at mine?” he asks, sounding surprised.
“Yeah, I just got here.” I roll my lips. “Could I stay tonight?” My voice cracks and I look to the ceiling.
“What’s wrong?” I hear wood scraping across tile. He’s still at the estate.
“I’m fine. I just needed to be close to you… after last night. Don’t rush back, okay? I’m just being silly.”
“Nina.”
“Mase, I’m fine.” I soften my voice and chuckle to try and persuade him that I’m okay. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
“We won’t be long.”
“Okay, love you.” I hang up and drop my head back. Why does this have to be so difficult?
What was Joey thinking?
He wasn’t thinking, I know that, and I already know that I can’t expect Mason to understand. Because I wouldn’t. I didn’t. I just have to be straight with him.
The elevator pings and the doors slide open. Every muscle in my body relaxes as I take a step into the familiar space, but it’s short lived. I stop short at the realisation that the lights are on. I walk to the edge of the wall that divides the foyer from the living area, then peek around it.
“Lance?” He lifts his head that was buried in his hands in a rush, and I know I’ve startled him as much as he has me.
“Nina. Where’s Mase?”
“At the estate.” I tilt my head to the side, frowning at the folder on the coffee table and the USB stick that sits on top of it. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see Mase.”
I nod, my eyes flicking to the coffee table again. “What’s that?”
He steeples his hands in front of his mouth as he rocks on his bouncing knees. He doesn’t look at me, his eyes focused on the folder. My stomach seems to freeze, turning my blood cold as I step closer.
“I fucked up—”
“Lance—”
“I watched it happen with Cara and I thought you were going to do it too. I-I—”
“Lance.” I stop him, moving to sit next to him on the sofa. “Stop.”
He turns his head, his hands falling from his face.
My body mirrors his on the sofa, but where his eyes burn into the side of my head, mine stay locked on the file. “You set him up, didn’t you,” I say in disbelief. “It was you.”
“You’d been together a couple of months. I didn’t think he was so deep and if I knew you were pregnant, Nina.”
I turn my head towards him, his eyes wide and unfocused. “Lance.”
“I’m so sorry, Nina. I couldn’t keep it from you and Mase anymore, it’s not right. I can’t live with it.”
I frown, shaking my head. “Did you plan it before hand? Did you plan it before Bora Bora?”
“I was off my face that night. It’s no excuse but Lowell was fucking all over the place for months. Everything came out about Marcus and Cara, and I felt like everything I spent the year burying was being dug up.”
“So after?” I ask, filling in the missing pieces. “You planned it after the holiday?”
“It was after you spoke to your mum on the phone. At the lodge. You told her you’d send her money and I read it all wrong. I read you so wrong, Nina, I’m so sorry.”
A tear rolls down my cheek as I look at him. Lance has been in my home, he’s spent hours and hours with my son, with me.
“You’re in love with Scarlet,” I say absentmindedly, my lip trembling. “What will she say? What will she do, Lance?”
He drops his head again, running his hands through his hair as he shakes his head no. “She told you about us?”
“No.” I snigger, wiping the tears from my face. “It’s painfully obvious though. It has been since Anthony passed away. I knew she wasn’t alone.”
“Does Mason know?” he questions.
“No. But it wouldn’t’ve been long. He heard you last night in the kitchen.”
He scrubs at his face, his body vibrating with pent-up energy.
Mason will be home soon, and I have to tell him that Joey tried to kiss me.
I have to tell him that the one thing I swore wouldn’t happen, that I called him out on, happened.
I have to hurt him a little bit, knowing it’s the right thing to do so that we can take another step. A step towards our family.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry,” Lance repeats, swiping at the corner of his eye.
My gaze catches on the tattoo that peeks out from his rolled-up sleeves.
Lavender branches wrap around his forearm in a spiral, disappearing under his shirt.
“I have it all here, every copy of everything that was sent to me. I will stay away from you, from Scarlet too, I won’t be around. ”
“He’s your best friend.”
“I know.”
“She won’t forgive you.”
He grits his teeth as tears fall down his face that he refuses to wipe away. “I know.”
I run my hands through my hair then stand, gathering up the USB and file. “Go home, Lance.”
“I can’t,” he huffs. “It has to come from me.”
“No. Go home, Lance.”
“Nina.”
“GO HOME, LANCE!” I yell, my own tears prickling my eyes.
“You’ve caused so much unnecessary pain.
You’ve kept me from my family,” I cry. “But telling Mason that you did this won’t lessen it.
It won’t change anything and it will break him.
The boys too.” My tears fall, and my stomach dips.
Do I really want to keep this from him? Will it protect him like I need it to?
“I want my family back now. I want to stop hurting him. I want to see him happy. I need to see him happy.”
His face screws up almost painfully. “You want to keep it from him?”
“Not just him.” My head tilts. “Mason would never forgive you, and that would hurt both of you enough, but Scarlet wouldn’t forgive you either.”
He starts to openly cry, breaking down where he stands as his secrets marinate between us. It has my brows drawing in as I fight to keep myself from going to him. “Nina, I don’t deserve her.”
I shrug. “Maybe not, but Scar’s the only person who gets to decide that. Telling them won’t change this, Lance. It only brings it all back, for us all.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Go home,” I tell him, layering it with all the conviction I can scrape from the depths of me. “You’ve made a lot of mistakes. We all have. But don’t let her be one of them.”
His nostrils flare as he steps up to me.
His head shakes with fear, gratitude, reluctance—I don’t know, but I let him pull me into him.
Amongst the anger, pain and uncertainty I feel inside of me, I know that this man loves the very same people I do.
He wouldn’t act out of malice—not towards them.
It’s a fierce thing, love. It’s dangerous.
I’ve hurt Mason so many times. Every time I’ve run, every time I’ve found annoyance in his giving, and each and every time I didn’t believe him.
I don’t deserve his love any more than Lance because I left him.
I made a mistake far more detrimental than Lance’s.
I did what I never dreamed I’d do. I walked away from my family.
Maybe I don’t deserve his love at all.
“You’re more than he could ever wish for. You came along right when he needed you and I’m sorry I didn’t see that.”
Lance leaves and I dispose of the files, burning them out on the balcony and washing the remnants away once I’m finished. Then I do all I can to damage the USB before putting it in the bin.
Mason walks through the door not an hour after our phone call, yet it feels like days—a lifetime. I smile despite the unease I feel and stand from the sofa to take the changing bag from him. Ellis is asleep in his arms, and he whispers with a frown, “I’m going to take him up.”
I nod my head, watching as he disappears up the stairs.
I have to do this.
It’s better for everyone.
Mason finds me in the kitchen once he has Ellis settled in his bed. His face is full of concern as he walks towards me. “What is it, Angel?” I wrap myself in him the second I can reach him, and he holds me, his hands slipping under my T-shirt so he can run his hands up my back. “Nina.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him.
“Sorry for what?” he says defensively, pulling away from me.
“I need you to promise me something—”
“Nina,” he grits out.
“Promise me that you will trust me enough to let this go. I know I don’t deserve it and I’ve not given you enough reason to…
but I need you to know that I will let him go.
Because I need this to work. You and Ellis are my only priority, and we have to make this work.
” I rush out the words. My gaze locked on his.
“Who? Who will you let go?” he snaps, clearly confused.
“Joey.” I draw in a deep breath. “Promise me, Mase.”
He scowls down at me, his brows furrowing as his spine straightens. “What did he do?”
“He tried to kiss me.”