“Why didn’t you answer?” he asked, looking back at me. His hair was mussed from sleeping, and I wanted to reach up and fix it. But I wouldn’t. I wasn’t touching this man again.
“I was in bed. If you’d wanted to talk to me, you should have done that before I left work. I wasn’t available to chat once I got home. That time is reserved for Franny.” I glared at him, waiting for him to give me a credible reason. Some stupid excuse. There was nothing he could say that would make me not feel hurt by what I’d seen.
“You’re angry,” he said, taking a step closer to me.
I just laughed. How could I respond to that? “Come inside and eat waffles with our daughter. Then leave.” I turned to walk back to the house.
“Why are you mad? Did you see me talking to Alexa last night? Is that what this is about?”
Great, she had a name. “If that’s the blonde’s name, then yeah,” I replied, not slowing down.
“She’s an old friend.”
“Good for you.”
“Addy, stop. Seriously, listen to me.”
I didn’t stop. I was too mad at Alexa for being an old friend and at myself for caring.
“Addy,” he called out again. “Don’t do this.”
“I’m going to eat with Franny. She’s watching us right now.”
He didn’t say anything more, but I could hear his footsteps behind me. I looked up to see Franny peeking out the window, like I knew she would be.
“Tell me you’ll let me explain what you think you saw before we go in there,” he said, in a low voice that Franny wouldn’t be able to hear from inside.
“Nothing to explain,” I replied, still not ready to soften up. The fact that he had slept outside my house wasn’t enough to fix this. If I had to deal with women at his car, in his office, and God knew where else, then I wasn’t doing this. I would not compete for his attention.
“Just make Franny happy, Captain. That’s all I require from you,” I said with a smile, for my daughter’s sake, then headed into the house.
Franny was running back to the toaster when the door opened. “I’m making waffles,” she announced, for Captain’s benefit, not mine.
“I’ll have two,” I told her. She glanced back at me and smiled, surprised that I was eating, but didn’t question it.
“I’ll have three,” Captain said, walking in behind me.
“OK!” Franny said, and she lit up as if her favorite celebrity had just walked into the house.
I wouldn’t let him hurt her, too. I had allowed him into her world, and he would be what she needed. I would make sure of that.
Captain
She was pissed, and I had no idea how the fuck I was going to explain this. Alexa worked for DeCarlo. She’d been with him almost as long as I had, but she had no plans to get out. There were few people in this world who were as ruthless as Alexa. She was a trained killer, and no one saw her coming, because she played the part well.
Her easiest targets were men, simply because she could use her body and her looks to reel them in before she offed them. It was easier for her to hit her marks, but she did it with no emotion. I’d watched her do it more than once, and it was intense, the way she killed without even an ounce of remorse.
Last night, she had come to the restaurant to let me know that members of a gang were believed to be coming after me. They had some insider info on who had killed their “brother,” and they wanted payback.
Knowing there was a possibility that my past was coming back to ruin things now was the scariest shit I’d ever had to swallow. If they had been watching me, it wouldn’t take much for them to figure out who Addy and Franny were. I had come here last night to make sure they were safe. When Addy hadn’t answered, I hadn’t left. I wasn’t leaving them alone until Cope and Alexa found the bastards who were looking for me.
Both of them were in town, trailing who they believed was here for me. If Cope had come to see me and let me in on all this shit, then I wouldn’t have Addy upset with me. But he’d sent Alexa while he kept tracking.
Fucking hell. The only excuse I had for Addy was that Alexa was an old friend. Telling her the truth wasn’t something I was willing to do. I’d lose her if she knew. She would take our daughter and run like hell.
And who could blame her?
I looked across the table at my daughter, as she chatted happily, completely oblivious that her mother was ready to stab me with the fork she was innocently eating her waffles with.
“It’s time for you to get dressed for school,” Addy said when Franny got to a stopping point.
“OK, but can Dad take me?” she asked, looking from her mother to me hopefully.
“I’d love to take you,” I said, before Addy could respond. Hearing Franny call me Dad so easily made my chest swell.
Addy nodded. “That’s fine with me. Now, hurry so he doesn’t have to rush to get you there on time.”
“I will!” she said, jumping up from her chair and hurrying back to the bedroom.