Love Renewed (Entwined Hearts #3) (35 page)

I nod, a thousand thoughts going through my head. I need to find Ryan first, the slippery bastard. I’m also concerned with how Jenson is really doing. It’s obvious he’s beating himself up about Hilary. Maybe he needs some female help.

“Listen,” I say catching his attention again. “I need to find Ryan, I will, and I’ll make sure it happens soon. How long have I got?” I ask.

“Ten days maximum.” His reply is like a sucker punch.

“Fuck! That’s not long. I’ll make this shit work. I have too. Either that or I’ll clean up my own mess,” I tell him.

“No Dane. If I’m already out when that shit goes down, I’ll still help you deal, especially with what he did to me. I just won’t have Archer…unknowingly, at my back.” He smirks, knowing that Archer would be pissed if he found out that Jenson was going to help me clean up a mess that had nothing to do with the team.

“When you’re out and Ryan’s dealt with. When shit has calmed. You’re coming to our place to meet my family and you will also have some one-on-one time with Nova,” I say.

He starts shaking his head no. “I don’t need one-on-one time with Nova, I’m fine, honestly…I’ll be fine,” he explains.

“Well, maybe she needs that with you,” I state. Knowing he was in that room with her means something to them both.

“Of course,” he tells me and I feel my shoulders relax. He needs Nova, he just doesn’t realise it yet.

“I’m so tired,” I say falling onto the sofa. It’s Friday afternoon and we have just finished bringing a last load of things into Saul and Soph’s new home. I love it here. Their house is warm and friendly, inviting. I like Dane’s house, but there’s something off about it. I’m not sure what it is as the house has everything I ever said I wanted, but now I’m there…I don’t know, there’s just this odd vibe that I can’t quite place.

“Okay, I was thinking,” Pea says dropping down onto the sofa next to me as Soph unpacks one of the last boxes. “We need a night out.”

“Yeah, I think we could all do with that,” Soph replies. “What about Eleanor though?”

Pea’s face crinkles and she shakes her head. “Have you not spoken to Eric lately?” she asks evidently surprised.

Soph stops her hand in mid-air about to place a tacky Vegas snow-globe, which is perfectly beautiful into a cabinet. “What?”

“What?” Pea mimics.

“No, come on Pea. I’ve been on a honeymoon, then…well, these two,” she says pointing at me, “and now moving. What’s happened? What have I missed?” she demands placing the snow-globe down, standing up and throwing the empty box with the pile near the door.

“That is such a fire hazard,” I say pointing to the boxes with a smirk. They both ignore me, and I roll my eyes which they also don’t see.

“Eric and Rich are looking for a surrogate. They want a child. They also want to get married. I figured you would know?” she murmurs and I watch Soph’s face fall.

“I’ve been so wrapped up in myself that I’ve been a shit friend.” She comes to sit down with us.

“No, he understands, I’m sure,” Pea says.

“Yeah, but he told you,” Soph answers.

“Do you realise why?” Pea asks giggling.

“What? Why?” Soph responds.

“Because they both keep wanting to kidnap Eleanor. That’s one of the reasons I was asking about a night out. They’re having her tomorrow night, I thought it might be nice to go to do some karaoke, we haven’t been for ages and after everything I just figured…” Pea’s voice trails off.

“Actually, that sounds pretty good,” Soph says perking up. “I’m going to call Eric tonight and have a chat, catch up and make sure everything is okay.” She seems happier now she has a plan of action. Then she turns to me. “So what’s going on with your job?”

“Well, I kind of quit,” I reply biting my lip.

“What?” They both shriek in unison and I flap my hands telling them to quiet down.

“Thank fuck the guys are in the garage!” I moan.

“He doesn’t know does he?” Soph asks.

“No,” I whisper.

“Why?” Pea asks.

“Because I only called them a couple of days ago to see where I stood, they asked me to confirm when I was coming back. Said it needed to be in the next week or they’d have to let me go. I told them I couldn’t get back that quick, so I quit. I just couldn’t…can’t…imagine leaving Dane to go back, and I didn’t know if he’d want to come with me. They wanted an answer, they didn’t want to wait for me to talk to him. Honestly though? I don’t think I want to work with Mel anymore,” I confess.

“That little bitch…damn right…I may have had to visit you at your job just so I could shove a pencil up that pointy nose,” Soph snaps out and I laugh.

“She hasn’t got a pointy nose,” I say through my laughter.

“Well, she would do after I’d finished with her!”

“There’s also Davy the dick, he would need a knee in the balls at least,” Pea adds and I stop laughing.

“Shit!” I sit up, my back going straight. “I’d forgotten about him.”

“Oh sorry, I mean, I thought you were over him?” Pea questions staring at me.

“Yes, I am. It’s just that…between the first time Dane and I were together and this time…I’ve forgotten the middle, I forgot it existed. Wow. He makes all the crap years just disappear…just like that.” I feel my eyes glistening as I bask in the feelings of release and happiness he gives me.

I look back to Pea and her expression has changed to smiling, it matches Soph’s and they look at each other then say in unison, “Group hug.” Before jumping on me. I’m squashed and loved by my girls, my sisters. My family.

The next night sees us sitting in the little karaoke bar that the guys seem to know well, by what Dane’s already told me I know they used to come here a lot. Since Eleanor came along, it’s not been such a frequent night out, but they still love to come. Well, I wouldn’t say Dane loves to come here. He comes because his family loves it. Even Con and Saul get into it. We found out when we met at Saul & Soph’s earlier this evening that the girls and guys were having some kind of sing off. That didn’t sound good and when Dane groaned, “Oh God,” behind me…and not in the nice way, I realised I was right.

Now we’re at the bar. Dane has taken a lot of convincing to go up on stage with the guys. Mainly it was me offering sexual favours for him to go up there. I wanted to see his fun side. I know he has it, I see it all the time, but he hides it from the others and it’s a shame. He should be free to be himself with his family. Now the guys are heading up to sing and Soph, Pea and me are waiting with baited breath. The three of them make their way onto the stage and the music starts. Con and Saul grab mics as Omi Cheerleader starts, they sing along to the words. This isn’t an instrumental version, they are singing along with Omi to the radio version. They make me laugh as they dance. Dane stands to one side. He reaches his hands above his head and grabs onto one of the low ceiling beams. His arms are flexed and I want to take a picture so I can start an
‘arm porn’
section in a photo album. I look back to his eyes and they’re on me. His lips tip up and a smirk forms, he saw me salivating. While Con and Saul jump around like crazy men, Dane looks like the sexy, brooding band member who doesn’t do much but is every girl’s wet dream. His eyes are fixated on me. By the end of the song I’m aching for his touch and I groan closing my eyes.

“Eww, I don’t need to hear that shit,” Soph tells me laughing and I feel my cheeks flush. I watch as the guys make their way back to us and every woman in the room and some men stop and watch Dane. He prowls through the crowd like he owns it, and when he reaches me, Dane grabs my arms and pulls me into his solid body, taking my lips. His kiss sears me and I feel the bulge in his jeans as he grinds it into me. Pulling away he whispers into my ear, “I have a big fucking issue, sitting down is going to be a problem. You were looking at me like you wanted to eat me.”

“I do want to eat you,” I whisper back and he licks the edge of my ear, then replies, “I know, you licked your lips enough times.”

“I did?” I say surprised, I hadn’t even realised.

“Oh yeah.” He bites my earlobe before releasing me and pulling me to sit on his lap.

“Shit,” I say when I realise everyone is watching us. Then I feel Dane’s laugh rumble up his chest and into my back. I smile. Fuck it. I love him and it wasn’t like we were just doing R rated stuff. I wink at Soph and she smirks back at me.

“Our turn soon,” she yells across the table and I just nod and smile. We practiced ours yesterday. Soph made us. I didn’t realise it would be for a battle with the boys, now I’m glad we did rehearse. I shake my head, she takes this competition thing seriously. But I’m not complaining, we’re going to make the guys suffer, in the best way.

“Did you speak to Eric?” I ask Soph leaning over to her.

She nods back. “Yeah, everything is absolutely fine. I shouldn’t have worried. He said I should be doing the honeymoon thing with Saul still and not fussing so much. Anyway, he’s coming to ours for dinner tomorrow too. So it will be all of us,” she tells me and I’m confused.

“All of us?” I ask.

“Yeah…didn’t Dane mention it? Damn him. We’re having you all over for food tomorrow afternoon. It’s a kind of housewarming without the party. It’s just family.” She smiles at me and I smile back.
Family.
That word has warmth attached to it. We both turn back to the couple singing as Dane leans into my ear.

“Oh yeah. We’re going to Saul’s tomorrow.” I look at him and raise an eyebrow, he just laughs making me wobble in his lap.

Twenty minutes later the three of us approach the stage. Pea takes her place in the middle of us and all I can think is I’m glad the stage has heaters above them as it’s November and it’s cold. Soph and I look at each other as we take our top layers off. I have a big oversized jumper which hangs down over my black leather trousers. Underneath, though, the trousers sit on my hips and the black top stops just under my breasts, showing enough skin but not too much. The black heels which I have on just accentuate the outfit and my hair hangs down my back. Looking over at Soph, I watch her remove her long coat. Saul is going to get a surprise when she turns around. She has black high heels with long opaque stockings or socks, I’m not sure what they are, except they run up her long legs stopping a little above the knee. Further up she has a skin-tight pair of Daisy Duke jean shorts with a short, thin jumper that hangs off one shoulder. Her hair is up in a ponytail and the smirk she gives me, says that Saul has no idea what she was hiding under her coat. Pea didn’t want to dress up, still feeling self-conscious and we didn’t want her to feel awkward. Soph roped me into this, it’s a good job I don’t have two left feet and am quick at picking up moves. I was able to learn the basic dance in an hour. Then again most of the movement is a kind of a grinding sexy show rather than any technical dance. Beyoncé’s
Naughty Girl
starts and Pea sings the first few words.

Soph and I turn and I catch Dane’s eyes immediately. They widen and his mouth drops open slightly as we start moving, dancing the same moves as the women in the video. It’s sultry and sexy and telling. I know I’m showing Dane that I’m sexy and all his. He smiles, while his eyes move from wide to hooded and I know what he wants, I know that look. Running my hands down my body I crouch and wind my body back up. He bites his lip with a smirk and shakes his head. Putting my finger in my mouth I suck it and let it glide out slowly while swinging my hips one way then the other. Most of the song is similarly danced. A lot of slow sultry movement. I see Dane stand up and bend over talking to the guys. They don’t look at him. They too are completely focused on their women. But they nod and wave him off. The song starts winding down, but before it’s finished, he reaches the stage and grabs my arm. I smile down at him as he drags me off. People shout and jeer. They probably think he’s a jealous boyfriend. They couldn’t be further from the truth, and as I’m dragged off I look over at Soph and her head is thrown back with laughter.