Her smile morphed into a smug grin. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, Roe.”
I poked my tongue at her. “Shut up, missy. And stop throwing all the shit at me that your mother and I have been throwing at you all your life. That’s good advice, but sometimes you just need to ignore it.”
She laughed, but her laughter quickly died as she gripped her leg. “God, this hurts. I want to go back out there and run into that kid who ran into me. He should be hurting too.”
Hyde returned with ice, and positioned Bree’s leg up on the chair. He placed the ice on her ankle and said, “You’ll probably wanna get her one of those compression bandages and keep her foot elevated.”
“And see the doctor, I’m guessing.” My first aid knowledge was going to need a major brush up if I was ever blessed with children.
“Yeah,” he agreed. I loved that he didn’t make fun of the fact I had zero awareness of how to treat this. He was just like bam, bam, bam, do this, do that, and all will be good. Hyde seemed like a take-charge kinda guy, and that right there made me like him more.
Bree glanced up at Hyde with a look of appreciation. “Thank you for all your help.”
“No worries.” He grabbed a spare seat from the table behind us and sat. “It’s a good sign that it’s not swelling. I’d say it’s a minor sprain only.”
“God, I hope so. I do not want to have to get a boot or anything like that,” Bree said. At my smile, she pulled a face and added, “Those things are not hot, Roe. No guy is gonna check me out while I’m wearing a boot.”
I held up my hands in defence. “Point taken, but I’m not sure I agree with you. I think you could milk a boot for a long time. Guys like to help pretty girls.”
Hyde seemed amused by our conversation, but he didn’t get involved. And a moment later when his daughter came off the rink, he left us to help her.
I watched him with her for a few minutes. He had to be one of the most attentive fathers I’d ever come across. Where some dads would be itching to get out of here, Hyde seemed intent on taking his time with his daughter. It was like he savoured every minute. I guessed that was perhaps because she lived in another city and he maybe didn’t get much time with her. Whatever it was, I loved it. And bloody hell if that didn’t annoy me a little. I didn’t need any more reasons to like him.
Chapter 14
Hyde
It had been three days since Charlie showed up on my doorstep. I wasn’t sure if we’d progressed far in our relationship, but the fact she’d agreed for me to take her ice skating had to be a good thing. Tenille had told me that ice skating was the one thing Charlie loved to do the most, and watching her out there on the rink blew me away. She was fucking good at it. It killed me that I’d missed out on all the steps she’d had to take to get to this point in her life. I wouldn’t miss any more.
“Do you know them?”
I followed Charlie’s gaze to Monroe and Bree. “Not really.”
She’d just taken her skates off and tied the laces together before sliding her shoes on. “What does that mean?”
“I’ve met Monroe a few times, but we don’t really know each other.” I watched as Monroe bent to pick up Bree’s skates, and spent a good few moments appreciating her ass. She had curves in all the right places, and my hand itched to touch that ass.
“You call her by her surname?”
“No, it’s her name.”
“Cool name. I’ve never heard it before.”
Monroe put her arm around Bree’s waist in an effort to help her walk, and I had the sudden urge to ensure they made it out to their car safely. Turning to Charlie, I said, “You ready to go?”
She nodded and grabbed her stuff. “Yeah.”
I headed in Monroe’s direction, meeting her just as she started struggling with Bree’s bag as well as the other stuff she carried. Reaching for it, I said, “Here, let me take it.”
She hit me with a look of relief and passed me the bag. “Thank you.”
Charlie and I followed Monroe and Bree out to Monroe’s car. It was pitch-black outside, which pissed me off. The skating rink owner should have made sure the outside lights were switched on. I’d be having words with them about that.
I lit the torch up on my phone and angled it in the direction we walked. Monroe stopped when she came to a red Mazda. “This is us,” she said as she unlocked the car and walked Bree around to help her into the passenger side.
My attention caught on one of her back windows. Moving to it, I confirmed what I thought and said, “Someone’s smashed your window.”
Her head popped up and she eyed me with disbelief. “Motherfucker.”
My thoughts, too. I dialled a number and put my phone to my ear. When the call was answered, I said, “I’m gonna text you an address. Can you send Roach over to replace a car window for me?”
“Sure thing, man.”
“Appreciate it.” I ended the call and texted him the address and car details. It wasn’t until she spoke that I realised Monroe had moved so she stood next to me.
“Ah, you know I’m quite capable of organising stuff on my own, right?” She sounded pissy. Kinda like she sounded the night I’d asked her to move her car out of Nitro’s driveway.
“You’d be waiting for hours if you called someone. My guy’ll be here within half an hour.”
“Okay, so while I am thankful about that, I’d actually really rather you ask me first before you start organising shit for me.”
“I don’t see what the problem is here. You needed help, I organised it.”
The car park lights turned on, and I took in her widened eyes and her annoyed expression. She was definitely pissed at me, but I failed to understand why. It was a no-brainer that I’d call for Roach when I knew he could get here fast.
She placed her hand on her hip. “What if I’d had someone I knew who could come and do it?”
I frowned. “Do you?”
Exhaling in frustration, she said, “No, but that’s not the point! You don’t get it, do you?”
Charlie stepped in at that point. “He really doesn’t. Aiden sees everything in black and white from what I can work out.”
Something Charlie said caused Monroe to falter. Shifting her attention between Charlie and me, she finally settled it on me and said, “I like that.”
Jesus this woman confused the fuck out of me sometimes. “What?” She’d just given me hell for doing exactly what Charlie said I did, and now she was telling me she liked it. I wondered if she was this confusing to everyone she met or just to me.
“Aiden. I like your name.”
I stared at her for a long quiet moment. No one had called me Aiden in fourteen years. Not until Tenille and Charlie came back into my life. It was a part of me that I’d left behind all those years ago, and it felt strange for someone other than my family to utter it. I did have to admit, though, that it sounded good rolling off her tongue.