Providence Series Books 1-4

by Mary B. Moore

  He stormed up to Francheska, grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her to the front door, pushing her out and right into the arms of Collette. He was left with a handful of cheap clip-in extensions clutched in his fist.

  “What on earth?” Collette asked, looking past the twat in her arms at us all standing there with our mouths open.

  “Long story, Mom,” Cole said, laughing as Collette slammed the door in her face.

  “Who’s Felicia, by the way?”

  The next day, Tony and I were walking back from the deli when we bumped into Richard the Dick. I hated being so nasty about people, but even I had to admit that I was starting to understand where he got his nickname from.

  “If it isn’t the most beautiful girl in the world.” He licked his lips, looking me over and proving that I was right and simultaneously making Tony cringe. No girl likes to feel like a piece of meat, or that the douchebag of the century is picturing her naked. It’s just wrong.

  “Hi, Richard, nice to see you.” I was so going to hell for lying out my ass. “How are you?”

  “Much better for seeing you, gorgeous.”

  “Oh, this is my friend and now assistant, Tony. Tony, this is Richard.”

  Wiping his hand off on his suit jacket after shaking Tony’s hand, Richard turned back to me and was about to launch into some no doubt perverted speech when Tony shrieked, “Oh my God, this is the guy who did the nasty with that disease-riddled slut that’s been stalking Ren? Sweetie, have you still got that hand sanitizer?” He pulled my purse off my shoulder and started digging through it, leaving me no option but to bite my lip so that I didn’t burst out laughing.

  Finding what he was looking for and squeezing some into his hands, Tony looked at Dick and continued, “Now, mano a mano, Chico, I need to tell you—you need to go and get your peppy checked, you dig? That bitch is just nasty, and I’m sure she’s one crab away from needing pest control to treat her. Tell me, when was the last time you had an attack of the herpes?” he asked as he cocked his head and gave him a searching look from head to toe with his hands on his hips.

  I watched as Dick’s face went red, and he quickly looked back at me. “Anyway, nice meeting you. And Maya, I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

  Tony and I watched until he was out of earshot, and then we both burst out laughing.

  “Sweet Jesus, that man is the capo dei cazzi, Maya. He and the funky cooter are perfect for each other. God help us if they ever reproduce,” Tony said, gasping through his laughs.

  “He’s a what? I don’t speak whatever that is, honey.”

  “The Head of the Dicks, that’s his official title.”

  Still laughing, we rounded the corner and walked into Francheska and her little band of witches. It was obvious that they’d been waiting for us.

  Tony groaned. “For the love of all things holy granchio regina, don’t you have a doctor or a treatment session you need to be at?”

  “Mm, I see you’re into all of my sloppy seconds,” she said. She had a smug grin on her face, and I was even closer to snapping. “Let’s see, there’s Ren, Luke, Richard, Brett…” she trailed off, looking at me with an evil smile on her face.

  “You do realize that you’ve just made yourself sound like a complete slut, right?” Tony snapped.

  “Oh please”—she waved her red talons at us—“they all want me. In fact, there was that time I was telling you about, Maya, remember? It was quite an experience. Me and Ren and Luke, then Ren and Mace; in fact, if I recall correctly, Ren was there for all of it.”

  A gasp came from behind us, and we turned to see poor Isla standing there looking pale. I’d had enough. “Listen, you rabid bitch, that night you told me about? Bullshit! And Luke? My cousin has standards—”

  I was interrupted by a handful of photos was being thrown at us. Looking at them as they lay on the floor, I saw images that I would never have wanted to see in my life, but the fact was, Ren had lied to me. Isla was looking at them too. This was too much; Isla was gentle, she didn’t need to see this shit.

  Looking up at her, I decided the only thing I could do was to end this bullshit once and for all. “Congratulations! I would call you a whore, but I think we both know no one’s ever gonna pay for that shit, so I’ll just call you what you are—a slut. In fact, so fucking cheap that you even have photos. I mean, fuck, do they even touch the sides with you anymore?” I’d never spoken to anyone like this in my life, but she’d pushed me too far, and she’d also broken my heart on more than one occasion. I was done.

  “You—”

  I cut her off with a hand straight up, a move I hated. “Nah, I don’t see any dicks around here aside from Tony’s, and he definitely has standards, so there’s no need for your mouth to be open.”

  “I’m not a slut,” she screeched.

  Evidently deciding he’d also had enough, Tony took over. “Sweetie, you’re the definition of a slut. Your legs spread wider than damn Ebola, and there’s no stopping the diseases you spread with your rotten coochie. Now, this is the last time you come anywhere near us. Do it again and I’ll have a restraining order on you so quickly your head will spin. Know how?” He turned to little Isla, who was now ready to fight, having obviously got over the shock of the photos. “Meet the chief lawyer for the Montgomerys. Mhmm, slut friend, she’s a lawyer, and a successful one, too, because you don’t get that position for nothing. Not that you’d know about successful positions, seeing as the only ones you know are missionary, doggy, trois, quatre, and however many you can stuff into your gaping maws. Now totter off to the girl clinic, sweetie; I’m feeling itchy standing near you.”

  Grabbing both our hands, Tony walked Isla and I back into the office, letting out a sigh of relief once we made it inside. I walked into my office and closed the door, locking it behind me. The photos kept playing through my mind turning my stomach at the same time. Could I get past this?

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ren

  I ’d just started to work on the Charger that had been dropped off on Saturday when I heard Cole say, “Oh, what the fuck now?”

  Scooting out from under the car, I looked over at the entrance to see the bane of my life walking through the door. After her stunt yesterday, I was way past done with her.

  “Hey, Renny.” She walked up to me with a huge grin on her face, immediately putting me on edge. “So I bumped into Maya today—”

  I was up off the board before she finished the sentence, with Cole beside me. “Why can’t you just leave us the fuck alone? You and I, we had nothing,” I yelled.

  “Mmm, somehow I don’t think Maya is going to be wanting you anymore, sweetie. You see”—she reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of paper or something; I didn’t pay attention, because I was too busy panicking about what the hell she’d done—“I played show and tell with her today. I showed her these, and I told her all about it.”

  Looking down, I did a double-take at what was on the top of the pile of whatever was in her hand. Cole saved me by reaching out and taking it from her and flipping through them, with me looking over his shoulder. I couldn’t believe what the fuck I was seeing! Through the buzzing in my brain, I could hear Cole murmuring to someone behind me, but all I could see was the photos and what I was doing in them, and then I was picturing Maya’s face when she’d seen them.

  I started to push past the venomous bitch, but a strong hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me around, causing me to swing, just missing Cole by inches.

  “Let me fucking go!” I roared in his face. I could hear my voice echoing around the inside of the garage and knew that, by now, my guys were all standing around me, ready to lend their support.

  “Fucking calm down, Ren, I mean it. Before you go off half-cocked, not knowing the explanation for what the fuck is in those photos, and try and explain to Maya—which, FYI, brother, will not help right now—we need Luke to look at these too and see what he remembers.” Cole had moved close to me and was looking me dead
in the eyes. He was pissed off too, but he was keeping it under control. His eyes cut over my shoulder. “Now now now, where do you think you’re going? Phil, make sure she and her friends don’t leave here, will you?”

  Francheska and her wicked bitches had been edging toward the door, but Phil was now standing in front of it with his arms crossed over his chest. I walked up to them, watching them the whole time, but just as I opened my mouth, Luke walked in and stormed past them, only giving the wicked bitches a cutting look as he passed them.

  “Show me.” The muscle in his jaw was working furiously, and I could see that he was holding on to a thread just like I was. Fuck, I hope he can explain what the fuck I’m seeing in those photos.

  Luke

  I was just about to go after Isla, who had obviously been crying, when my cell rang in my hand. Answering it as I walked in the direction of Isla’s office, I heard Cole’s voice right before she slammed the door.

  “Man, you need to get here now. You are not gonna fucking believe what I’m looking at, and I’m willing to bet everything I have that this involves Isla, too.”

  “Fuck,” I snapped. I was so over people trying to mess with Isla and me. Ending the call, I entered the office and closed the door behind me.

  Her head snapped up, and I saw how pale she looked. I hated whatever had caused it and knew this had to be my priority; I couldn’t lose her again.

  “I don’t know what’s happened, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it. When I do, we will talk about this. What we have means everything to me, do you understand?”

  When she didn’t answer, I knew that I needed those answers ASAP, so I bent over quickly and pressed a kiss to her lips. Pulling back, I looked her in the eyes. “Wait for me.”

  I walked out, passing the desk where Reed sat. I hated that she’d hired him as her assistant, because it meant she worked closely with him and was around him when I wasn’t. I knew they’d been best friends for years, but I still didn’t like it.

  “Make sure she’s okay,” I growled as I passed him. He just looked at me with a blank expression on his face, which I could only imagine again did not bode well for me. He was her best friend and obviously knew what was going on and wanted to punch the shit out of me, but I was his boss. Truth be told, I’d actually have respected him for standing up for Isla that way, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

  Pushing through the door of Ren’s garage, I saw his guy Phil blocking the entrance and could see the black roots and platinum hair that belonged to that psychobitch Francheska next to him. What the fuck had she done now?

  Before I could say anything, Cole handed me a stack of photos. “Francheska is doing her civic duty by showing your girl and Maya these pictures. Care to lend us your thoughts?”

  Looking through them, I felt my gut churning; Isla had seen these photos. In the first one, Francheska was on all fours, facing the camera, with Ren behind her and me in front of her; it was obviously done to make it look like we were giving her a good roasting. During our teens, Ren and I hadn’t been angels. In fact, few of us in Piersville had been angels, and yes, we had shared, but this I did not remember. Each photo showed either more detail or different positions.

  “Do you remember any of this?” I asked Ren, who had been standing there staring into space.

  “No.”

  What were the chances of two guys being so fucked up that they didn’t remember one detail of the night? I mean, sure, we’d all been seriously drunk at some point in our lives, but never once had I forgotten what happened the night before. Pulling out my phone, I snapped photos of a couple of them and sent them to Mace, seeing as it involved him, too.

  A question suddenly hit me. “Who have you shown these to?” I kept my voice as calm as possible as I walked back towards the bitches.

  They all looked at each other, looked back at me, and shrugged. Walking up to Bianca, I stood as close as I could get and leaned down. “We had fun, you and I, didn’t we? Lots of fun, if I remember correctly. In fact, at one point you told me that you loved me, didn’t you?” I moved back, still keeping my face close to hers, with a small smile on my face so that she wouldn’t back away.

  I could see her panting and knew that I had her. “Yeah.” She licked her lips nervously, and then looked back up at me with an almost smug look on her face. Oh, dear, dear, little witch!

  “Who saw those photos? They’re really well done, too. Was that you?”

  By this time, she was beaming with pride. “Tiff did. I’m glad you like them; I have the one of you and me framed in my bedroom.”

  That last bit made me pause as I swung in Tiff’s direction. “You have a framed version?”

  “Well, it’s not quite framed yet, but it’s going to be,” she stammered. I needed to deal with that bullshit too, but first things first.

  Moving back toward Tiff, I saw Ren walking towards her too out of the corner of my eye. “Why did you do it?”

  Her eyes flicked to Francheska and then back to me.

  “Tell us, sugar. We won’t be mad.” I made sure to keep my voice as soft as possible, because I knew one thing—this nutcase was about to crack, and crack the other nutcases behind us.

  “It’s time for us to go,” the skank behind us shouted, but I knew they weren’t going anywhere, and the sound of scuffling proved that.

  “Francheska made us do it. She said it was meant to be the four of us with the four of you,” Tiff said, looking straight at me like I was a steak.

  “Four of us?”

  “Yeah! You, Ren, Cole and Mace. It does make sense, and now here we are!” Bianca said beside me, and then threw herself at me. She had her arms wrapped tightly around my neck while she tried to stick her tongue in my mouth. For a little thing, she had the grip of an anaconda, and her tongue was determined, but all it did was make my balls shrivel up into my gut and my stomach churn. Pushing her off me, I stepped back and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. It wasn’t enough; I could still feel her.

  “Here, man.” Cole pushed a wet wipe under my nose and clapped me on the shoulder as he went back to the door. I swear he had packs of these everywhere; no matter where we went or what we did, he always pulled these things out, but I’d never been more grateful.

  I watched her as I wiped my mouth. She was looking at me with hurt, but she still had that deluded look about her. Why hadn’t anyone noticed this before?

  “I think we need to sort a couple of things out with you…ladies, and I use that word loosely,” Ren said, walking towards the group as Cole and the men let out a snigger.

  “Loose is such a dirty word,” Cole snorted.

  After this, I needed to get back to my girl and explain all of this to her. She needed to know it all, and as soon as possible. Firstly, though, it was time to call the police. These psychos had just messed with us for the last time.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ren

  S itting at the bar, I looked at yet another empty beer bottle.

  Why would someone give someone an empty beer? I know I’m already past drunk, but come on!

  Luke and I had gone back to the office after the police had taken the witches and photos away, but Maya and Isla had been away for different reasons. Tony hadn’t been there to talk to, either. I still didn’t understand why Francheska was so fixated on me and why she’d go to the lengths she did to break us up.

  “Beer and Jack, Jilly.” Her head snapped around to me, and her eyes narrowed. I was drunk, but not drunk enough not to know what that meant. “Please?”

  “That’s better!” She walked towards me, uncapping a bottle and picking up a glass on her way. She set the beer down in front of me and walked back to get the Jack Daniels.

  I watched her pour a generous amount into the glass as I mulled over my problems.

  “Hey, Ren,” Ava said as she sat down beside me.

  “Ava, what are you doing here on a weekday?” I looked around to see if Mace was with her, but apparently sh
e’d slipped her guard dog tonight. Looking back at her, I belatedly noticed that she was drenched. “What the hell?”

  “It’s raining hard outside, and I couldn’t park closer, so I had to run,” she explained, pulling her hair up into a wet mess on top of her head. “So, you drowning your sorrows?”

  “Absolutely.” I saluted her with the Jack and drank it back before putting the glass back on the bar.

  “Gonna tell us what’s happened?” Jilly asked, waving the bottle of Jack. I wasn’t a very open person, but the alcohol was hitting me now, and girls did this shit all the time, right? So maybe it would help.

  Taking a deep breath, I sat back and let it rip.

  “Okay, Ren, one step, then the next step,” Ava said as she helped me up the stairs to Mace’s. I’d had the most fantastic idea after I’d told Ava and Jilly everything that had happened, and they’d let me know their feelings about it. I was getting the tattoo that I’d meant to get while Maya was away, and Mace was gonna do it. Drunk ideas are the best ideas!

  “No, they’re really not,” Ava muttered. Maybe I’d said that out loud?

  Banging on the front door, I leaned against Ava even more. Mace really needed to fix his damn porch; the fucking thing was moving. Someone could get seriously hurt!

  Lifting my hand to bang again, the door suddenly opened, and a pissed-off Mace stood in the doorway looking at me. “What the fuck are you doing, Ren? Are you drunk?” His eyes moved to Ava, and for a second they softened, and then turned pissed as he looked her over. “What the hell are you wearing? Your fucking shirt’s almost see-through!” He ended it in a roar, which really didn’t help my current balance predicament as Ava took a step back and leaned away, taking me with her.

  “It was raining, you asshole, and so fucking what? It’s my body,” Ava snapped, and shifted to push me forward to him.

  Just as I was about to break into the conversation and share my brilliant idea with my best best friend forever and ever and ever, Ava gasped and let go of me completely. Aw shit, I was going down. I started to tip slowly forward towards Mace, who was still glaring at Ava. Then it was a case of timber, and I landed on him, taking him down with me.