Love Renewed (Entwined Hearts #3) (18 page)

“Lewis—”

“Just leave it, Libs, okay?” he snaps and I know from his tone that there will be no movement with this conversation. I nod and decide to ask him about work, but get interrupted by the women from the restrooms.

“Hey, I hope you don’t mind me bothering you while you have your coffee?” she mumbles. I’ll give her props…she’s good, she has the innocent little thing down pat. This coy girl batting her eyelashes at Lewis is not the confident woman who approached me in the restrooms.

I smile and shake my head to myself. It’s funny watching people. She fiddles with her fingers like she’s nervous, which makes Lewis more manly and confident. Not that he isn’t usually confident. He is. Completely. He’s cocky with it too, but not arrogant. There’s a fine line and thankfully he never seems to step over it. I can see why he’s confident. He’s tall and broad, he has hazel eyes and dark hair, but it’s his smile that knocks women off their feet. I’ve seen it, more than once. I watch him. He has a game. Definitely. He’s charismatic and magnetic and he looks at this woman like she’s all he sees. All women want that. I get that from Dane. I realise since I first met him in England he’s always looked at me like I’m all he sees. I sigh thinking about it. Lewis stops talking and looks over to me.

“You okay, Libs?” I stare at him confused. “You sighed,” he tells me then looks back at the girl. “Sorry babe, I’m having coffee with Libs, another time?”

Her shoulders drop.

“No, no, that’s fine, Lew…I should be going anyway. You sit here,” I tell the girl.

“Libby, this is Minnie.” He looks between us. “Minnie. Libby.” I nod, offering her a friendly smile and bite the inside of my mouth.

I hate to judge. But really…Minnie?

Lewis gets up and I grab my stuff. “I’ll be back in a minute Minnie,” he tells her and she beams at him while I try not to laugh at his words. Grabbing my hand he walks me out of the coffee house. We stop outside and he turns me to face him.

“You really okay, Libs?” he questions.

“Of course,” I reply and watch him frowning, doubt in his features. “Listen Lew, honest, I’m good. I want to get home anyway so I can sort out food before Dane comes over. You go, have fun. Next week we can return to this place if you like. I know we said we would make this a weekly thing, so do you want to come back here?” I ask trying to distract him from unnecessarily worrying about me.

He looks back to the coffee shop and shakes his head. “No, I mean who knows how many women around here will hate me by then Libs. I think I’ll need somewhere new next week.” I groan as he chuckles. Pulling me in for a hug he rumbles in my ear, “Next week, sweetness.” Then he lets me go and spins around making his way back, to what looks like a poor unsuspecting girl. But what I think is really a woman who knows how to get exactly what
she
wants.

I pace back and forth across my New York apartment. When things first turned down a different path for me all those years ago, I stayed here. A lot. Back then this was Jenson’s apartment. Now it’s mine. But with everything going on I’m not sure if being so obvious is the way I should be playing things. Jenson knows how to get in here and kill me if he needs to. Nowadays it’s unlikely in any scenario that he could best me. But being that this is his old home, he will know all the access points. He’ll know everything I know. Even though I’m aware of that, I still choose to stay. Everything in my gut tells me that Jenson is being framed. They want me to go in all guns blazing, kill him and then take the fall. Not gonna happen. They should know by now, I’m smarter than that. I will check into a few leads before I do anything. Right on cue my burner phone beeps signalling a text.

Unknown ID:
What you want is back in London. You’re being given false information.

“Fuck,” I growl out. The lead I was relying on is a dead end. This means that I’m being kept out of the picture on purpose. It also means I need to get back to London. “Shit.” Wiping my hand down my face I realise I can’t stay and win over Nova. I want to, everything in me is pushing to give her everything—all the things I should have given her before. I know that this time I need to put her first. But I can’t. Now it’s about safety. If I don’t go back and sort this shit out, then I’m putting her in the firing line and I can’t lose her again. I can’t. I wouldn’t recover this time.

I need to shower and focus on Nova. I have to be at her apartment in an hour and tonight is important. There are things I need to show her, things from our history, I need my head in the game, it’s just hard picking which game I need to put first.

I arrive at Nova’s apartment feeling anxious. These feelings she brings out in me are uncomfortable because I’m not used to them. I always know what I’m doing as well as my next move. I plan five steps ahead and cover every contingency. I control everything. Always.

Except her.

I can’t know how she’s going to react or what she’s going to do, and because I want to guard her heart, I’m careful about how I proceed. Every single thing, no matter how little it is, I consider carefully before I take action. Except for sex. The moment she let me in, it was all or nothing. I can’t do half measures with sex. Those people who say bad sex is better than no sex. They’re delusional. Sex with Nova is something I’ll never experience with anyone else. It’s like I’ve gone back to being a teenage virgin and feeling everything for the first time.

Shit! Now I sound like a fucking woman.

Tonight wouldn't be about sex, though, if it were then my job would be easy. I know how to please Nova and she sure as fuck pleases me. Tonight is about our past. We need to talk, and we need to be honest and open. Tonight could be make or break. I have this fucking thing with Jenson hanging over my head now, and knowing there’s a chance I won’t be around to pick up the pieces, almost stops me—almost. But I need to do this. The history between us has been hanging over our heads for too long.

I wait until after dinner is eaten then pick up the box I brought with me, placing it on the coffee table in front of us.

“Nova, I brought this here tonight. As you know, I said there were some things I wanted to show you, and what’s in this box is the start of that.”

“What do you mean the start?” she asks trying to hide the hint of worry that laces her voice.

“Well, in this box is memories of us. To be honest, I haven’t opened it myself for years, but I brought it out here to show you. There are more items at home, photos and stuff, but this is like a little time capsule for me. It’s something I’ve always treasured. I was hoping you would open it with me?”

I sit stunned at what Dane has just told me. I’m both amazed and scared. I have nothing from back then. My brain doesn’t remember anything past waking up in the hospital, I don’t even know what I looked like as a teenager. Looking between the box and Dane’s face, I can see he’s nervous, the worry clear in his beautiful eyes. It’s an unusual emotion to see him express.

“Nova—”

“Yes! Of course,” I shoot the words out before I change my mind. His face relaxes momentarily, but then his jaw flexes and he takes a second to stare at the box. “It will be okay,” I soothe brushing his forearm with my hand. He glances at me and smiles, but it’s fake.

Reaching down he pulls the lid from the small black box. I wait for him to decide how he wants to progress, because only he knows what’s hidden inside.

“This is a photo of you when you were about fifteen. You were such a pain.” He chuckles passing me a photo. I suck my breath in and look at it. I can see what he means when he says I haven’t changed that much. I’m not so different now to what I was back then, a bit younger, a bit more innocent, but I still look the same.

“Here, this one was when Ryan moved out and got a dog, you wouldn’t leave the dog alone, always asking to go over to his flat.”

“Ryan?” I question taking the photo from his hands. I’m sticking my tongue out in the photo, mimicking the cute dog sitting beside me.

“Yeah,” Dane says standing up. He rubs the back of his neck and looks toward the ceiling, his muscles at the top of his arm bunch, and automatically I lick my lips. “I sometimes forget that you don’t remember.” He shakes his head. “We lived in a home, I’ve told you that much. The home was always for boys until you came along.” He smiles down at me and I can see the warmth swimming in his eyes. “Ryan was one of the guys, he was a year older than me, Mikey was a year younger.”

“Ryan.” I roll the name around my mouth. It feels familiar, but I can’t place it.

“Anyway, Mikey left after a bit and you came and replaced him. It was just before your fourteenth birthday—”