Stanton Box Set
Page 5
“Seven and a half years,” Joshua answers flatly.
“Does she know you’re back in town?” He shakes his head again. “So where do your parents live from here?” Adrian opens the back car door and gets out his iPad.
“Toorak, Melbourne. About twelve hours south.” Adrian and Ben frown at each other.
“But I thought we were here for three months so you can see your family?”
“Yes we are, but they are in another state.”
“Please don’t tell me we are in Sydney for this girl?” Joshua is still staring up to apartment 5B.
“Maybe,” he answers. “To be truthful I have no idea what we are doing here, I feel unsettled already.”
Ben raises his eyebrows. “Joshua Stanton unsettled by a woman, never thought I’d see the day.”
“It’s… complicated.” He blows out a breath.
Adrian’s mouth drops open. “But I thought you said.”
“Yeah, I lied.”
“So this girl… is her name… Natasha?”
Joshua hangs his head and blows out a breath. “Yes,” he answers.
“Hmm a part of the jigsaw puzzle fits into place,” Ben smiles. “So you do have a heart?”
Joshua smirks. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
Adrian lies on his back across the bonnet and blows out a breath, hands behind his head. “You know I think Rod Stewart was right on the money.” Joshua and Ben frown at each other and then him.
“You know, the first cut is the deepest.” All three men smile.
“That is true. You remember every minute detail. Come on, let’s go. Enough of this shit, she fucks with my head.”
“Aren’t we going in?” Adrian asks.
“No, I just wanted to see where she lives.”
“Does she have a boyfriend, married, what’s her story?”
“No, no nothing. Nothing I can dig up anyway.”
“You’ve kept tabs on her?”
“Yes, from a distance.”
“When did you last speak to her?” After a silence of five minutes, Josh blows out a breath and replies.
“Seven and a half years ago, the day she dumped me.” Adrian and Ben look at each other, the shock evident on their faces.
“So you haven’t spoken a word to her since?”
“Nope.”
“You haven’t called?”
“Nope.” They all look back to the window and the lights go off.