01

CORBIN'S POV

I LET OUT A SIGH, RUBBING THE EXHAUSTION FROM MY FACE.

Or at least tried to.

she kept me up all night thinking she'd call but in reality, the damn bugger didn't even call, let alone bother to send me a text to let me know she had landed. I didn't even try to fall asleep this morning, because god knows that the second I finally shut my eyes, she'll call me and I'll be up again.

The damn things I do for this girl

Leaning the club against the wall beside me, I dropped onto the bench, letting out a breath.

Two years.

Two years since I last saw her. Yesterday was the first time in those years that I heard her voice. Even though she wasn't speaking to me directly, just hearing her voice was enough to bring back a rush of emotions that I spent so long trying to get rid of.

It was wrong of me to have those feelings.

It was wrong of me to think about her in those ways.

I shouldn't be having fantasies about my best friend's little sister. It was wrong of me to dream about her every night about what it would be like to have her lying next to me. To be able to have her there beside me every day for the rest of my life.

But the truth was I felt it all with her. For the first time in years, I felt so much because of her. She was the first girl who really saw me and understood what it felt like to be an outcast in the world and with my own family. From the second I saw her when I was thirteen, I never felt anything like that for anyone other than her.

"You do realise you're not some middle-aged balding man?"

I felt something tingle in my body. My eyes trailed up her figure over the bare tanned legs. The dark material clung to her body outlining the curves of her body. When my eyes finally landed on her face, my heart clenched.

A wide smile stretched over her face and a light sparkled in her eyes.

God, I've become weak.

It was a killer look she had. One that always sent my heart spiralling when she put it on for show. One that would turn you into a squealing high schooler who got Tom Hollands attention.

Her voice sounded older. More mature than before. She was no longer the same sixteen-year-old girl I knew.

She wasn't just a girl anymore. She was a woman. But she seemed to be the same troublemaker that I grew up knowing and the biggest tease. She always loved to taunt people.

Just like her brother did.

"I wouldn't stare for too long. Ford isn't a fan of perverts, Laurie" A smirk traded places on her face with her grin.

"And you do realise when you say that you're going to be calling yourself one as well?"

She rolled her eyes, "okay diva. I did it once and in my defence I was jet lagged, Laurie." I shook my head, wrapping my arms around her waist. I held her close to me. Taking in the warm scent of smoky wood blended with chestnut.

Lifting her off the floor, I stepped to the side, burying myself in her scent. She was so fucking warm. The same warmth I craved to feel again for so long.

Hearing that they were picking up and leaving from Roman, shattered me in ways I never dreamed possible for someone like me. I thought I'd at least get to say goodbye to her but no, they were gone by morning. Their house Their house was far quieter than ever before. It felt me with an eerie feeling every time I drove past it growing up.

I hated how quiet it was these last two years

She vanished from our lives.

They both did.

I never saw her again. I never spoke to her. I never got to say the things I needed to say.

"I see you still have Ford following you around." I pulled back, keeping her in my arms.

"He's my proxy, no one vouches for me as he does…plus he loves me too much to leave but who wouldn't?"

A small grunt came from Ford, "I beg to differ with that statement but whatever pleases her majesty."

It's not a surprise to see, Ford wasn't lacking. He grew a few inches from when I last saw him. His hair lightened and his eyes darkened

"Oh, shut it, grandpa." She rolled her eyes

"Your swing is terrible by the way."

I forced back a grin before handing her my club, "then let's see how it's meant to be done huh?"

"Oh no, I don't golf. But I've seen enough to know your swing is terrible, sweetie," I shook my head and sat back down, pulling her along with me.

"Where did you go today?"

"I dropped by Hadley's. Charlie had a baby apparently. A little girl."

Charlie McKinney. The oldest son of three. His father was preparing for his campaign for a senator that was going to take place soon. He had the set votes of the four biggest families existing so far in England.

I never knew the family closely but then again the only family that the Laurent name was close with was the Azad family, but something shifted over the years.

It was unknown to everyone what it exactly was but I wouldn't be surprised if it was Maxwell's fault that they fell apart. He has a thing for pissing off people and taking things just a step too far for it to be considered a joke anymore.

"That kid is in for a world of chaos with Hadley as her aunt."

I snorted. "Are you trying to talk bad about her or support her?"

She shook her head, "Both. The girl is absolute chaos."

"Have you gone to see Blair yet?"

She let out a sigh, "no, not yet. From what I've heard from Hadley. She needs time to relax before I barge back into her life after everything that's happened.

"Lana…"

"It's fine…I just need to remember what I had planned to tell her these last two years and I'll be good."

She looked like the same girl that I grew up to know but she wasn't. Her smile didn't reach her eyes as it used to no matter how hard she forced it when she spoke about Blair. Her posture was tense.

Maybe it was the fact he wasn't used to being back around us yet after those two years, but I didn't want to sit here and waste time wondering if she was hiding something from me.

Not after I just got her back.

"Dalton is having some personal rave since Roman is back so I'm going to see her when she's alone. Gives her the freedom to say whatever she wants to me."

I sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear and pressing my lips to her forehead, "it's good to have you back, Red."

For as long as I've known her, Lana had a certain fascination with the colour red. Anything red from clothes to shoes to stationary she would get it.

She was never amused by the sight of her own blood whenever she would 'accidentally' give herself a paper cut on her finger or scrap her knee.

So ever since we just started nicknaming her Red as we grew up. at first, it was to make fun of her by Roman but when things didn't go the way he planned, it just became a common nickname we all had for her.

"You saying that because you mean it or is it because you have someone to trader secrets with for information about Roman?"

I shook my head, "both, Red…Come on, I'll take you and Ford out for dinner."

"Good luck trying to convince him…Ford has a strict policy about eating while working."

"We'll figure it out won't we, Lana?"