by Lisa Worrall
“The way they love each other. So you can just ignore Bobby Gold, because he doesn’t know everything about everything,” Aiden said firmly.
“So you’re not married?”
“No, we’re not,” Aiden replied. “But if we wanted to we could be.”
“Okay,” she smiled, nodding as she speared a meatball with her fork, obviously satisfied with her father’s explanation. Although Finn choked on the mouthful of wine he’d taken when she said conversationally, “But will you be married one day?”
Aiden blushed bright red and Finn cleared his throat before he replied, noting that Aiden kept his gaze firmly on his own plate. “I think that’s a whole different discussion, Squirt. How about you tell me what else you did at school today, before Daddy implodes?” Luckily for both of them, Kaylee was easily distracted and she bounced in her seat enthusiastically as she recounted her day.
“It’s Show and Tell on Friday.”
“Cool,” Finn responded. “What are you going to take?” Before she could answer him, he began really off a list of items, each one more ridiculous than the other, ignoring the bewildered smile Aiden always wore when he and Kaylee went off on a tangent.
“I’m taking Monty.”
“The huge one Finn bought you last week?” Aidan asked.
“Don’t be silly, Daddy. That’s a toy,” she drawled, shaking her head slowly at him, as if she couldn’t believe he was the role-model she had to go through life with. “This Monty.” She reached out her small hand and patted Finn on the forearm.
“Me?” Finn asked incredulously. “You want to take me to Show and Tell?”
Kaylee nodded, wiping up the last of her sauce with her garlic bread and stuffing it into her mouth. “Uh-huh. Will you come?”
“I would love to.” Finn reached out and squeezed her hand before quickly returning his attention to his plate. He was actually welling up. She thought he was cool enough to take to Show and Tell! Ahem, she thinks Monty’s cool enough to take to Show and Tell. He ignored the mumbling in his head. Without him there was no Monty, so it was rather a moot point. He had the sudden urge to call his mother to tell her how cool he was. Good grief, get a grip. The rest of the meal passed in relative silence and after she’d put her plate on the counter, Kaylee skipped out of the room and up the stairs.
“You okay?” Aiden asked without sarcasm.
“Of course,” Finn said with as casual a shrug as he could manage. He glanced up and noting the glint in Aiden’s gaze, he huffed indignantly. “Shut up. She caught me off guard, that’s all.”
“Hey, I never saw a thing. Not a glistening tear, nothing,” Aiden said, holding up his hands in surrender before standing and beginning to deal with the debris from their meal. “But if you need to discuss last night’s football so you don’t feel like your masculinity has been compromised, I’m right here… just saying.”
Once he’d pushed back his chair, it only took three strides for Finn to press Aiden against the counter, caging him in with his hands pressed on the granite either side of Aiden. “Are you seriously questioning my masculinity, Reid?” he drawled, leaning in and brushing his lips against Aiden’s ear, blowing across the sensitive shell. “Have I got something I need to prove to you?” He kept his voice low but teasing, reveling in the trembling of Aiden’s hands as his fingers curled in his T-Shirt. “Should I take you right here and now? Make you come so hard you can’t remember your own name? Will that satisfy your curiosity?”
“You bastard,” Aiden groaned. He mashed their mouths together, stealing the very breath from Finn’s lungs, his hands in Finn’s hair.
“Yuck!”
Finn broke the kiss at the grumbled complaint from the doorway, and pressed his forehead to Aiden’s in an effort to compose himself before turning to face their critic. “Yuck?” He raised an eyebrow, released Aiden and took a step toward her. “Did I hear you say… yuck?”
“Kissing’s gross.”
“I’m glad you think so, and I’m sure your father would hope you’ll carry on thinking so until you’re at least twenty-five.”
“Thirty,” Aiden amended, as he began to load the dishwasher.
Finn closed the gap between him and Kaylee in two strides and lifted her high into the air before twisting her so she was upside down in his arms, her hair standing out around her head as though she’d stuck her finger in a socket. She squealed excitedly and he made as if to drop her. “What was that you said about kissing?”
“It’s icky!” Finn pretended to drop her another inch and Kaylee squealed loudly.
“What was that?”
“Daddy! Help!”
Finn heard Aiden chuckle from behind him. “Sorry, you’re on your own, kid.”
“One more time, or I’m gonna dip you in the bucket and use you to mop the floor.” Finn held on tighter to his squirming bundle. “Kissing is…?”
“It’s yucky…” Finn’s fingers dug into her ribs and she giggled uncontrollably, pulling great gasps of air into her lungs. “Lovely. I meant… lovely!”
“That’s what I thought you said,” Finn replied, turning his head to blow a raspberry on her exposed belly before turning her upright and tossing her over his shoulder. “Besides, I know you wanna kiss Gabe,” he teased, mentioning one of the characters from her favorite TV show, Good Luck Charlie. “Or is it PJ?”
“No!” Kaylee drew out the word and shifted to wrap her arms around his neck. “I’m not gonna kiss boys ever!”
“Wow,” Finn chuckled. “You’re really going out of your way to make Daddy happy, today, aren’t ya?”
“Huh?”
“It’s a grown up thing.”
“Then how would I know?” Kaylee stared at him as though he were the village idiot, complete with cabbage leaf hat. “I’m five. I won’t be a grown-up until I’m twelve, will I, Daddy?”
“You’ll certainly be one before Finn is, that’s for sure,” Aiden said with a smile, wiping his hands on a dish towel and then tossing it onto the counter.
“Hey!” Finn said, mock-affronted. “I resemble that remark.”
“Come on, you two.” Aiden gently herded them toward the kitchen door. “Or movie night will be over before it’s even started. Whose turn is it to pick the movie?”
“Mine, mine!”
Finn grinned at Aiden over the top of Kaylee’s head as they settled on the sofa. Oddly enough the answer was the same every Friday night, but Aiden still asked the question without fail. Finn had more than a passing suspicion that he only asked it to see the excitement on his daughter’s face. Which he considered to be more than understandable. Nobody did excited with more bounce and joie de vivre than Kaylee Reid. He could only hope they wouldn’t have to sit through High School Musical again—Zac Efron was starting to piss him off. Sitting back with a contented smile, Finn needn’t have worried. Tonight they would be watching Woody and Buzz fight their way back from Sid’s house before Andy moved, one of his own personal favorites—even if it was associated with “The Park Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned.”
III
Finn flinched when he found himself staring up at Kaylee’s face hovering above him, and her thumb holding his right eyelid open. To say this was not the conventional way he was used to be awoken, would have been a very slight understatement. He blinked the eye that didn’t have a thumb in it and mumbled, “Um, Kaylee, what are you doing?”
“I messed up my Cheerios. Can you help me before Daddy sees?”
Finn grunted in response. “Uh-huh. But I’m gonna need my eye back first.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Kaylee removed her thumb, letting his eyelid drop back into place and Finn blinked more symmetrically this time, squinting at the hands on his watch where it lay on the nightstand before he sat up—seven am. Didn’t she know it was Saturday, for God’s sake? Why wasn’t she still snoring in her pit? It was downright un-American.
Reaching down beside the bed, he pulled yesterday’s T-shirt over his head and stood up, thankful he
remembered to put his sleep pants on last night after Aiden had given him a soothing massage, and then completely negated it by fucking him into the mattress. He took her outstretched hand and together they padded softly from the room, and closed the door behind them.
“Okay, Squirt,” Finn said, his hand covering a yawn. “How much of a mess are we talkin’?” Not entirely enthused with Kaylee’s nonchalant shrug, he followed her down the stairs, his sense of trepidation increasing with every step. He paused in the kitchen doorway, his breath whistling from between pursed lips—he’d been right to be nervous.
“Squirt?” He asked conversationally. “Did you get any Cheerios in the bowl?” Gazing around him he didn’t know whether to admonish her or shake her hand. How the hell had someone that small managed to make a mess this big? No wonder she didn’t wake Aiden. He’d have had to spend the rest of the weekend in a dark room if he’d seen this. Not, he amended mentally, that Aiden was a neat freak per se… but when it came to the kitchen, Finn and Patti had coughed ‘Monica’ into their palms on more than one occasion.
“I don’t know,” Kaylee replied with a sorrowful shake of her head. “I think it sorta slipped.”
“Yeah.” Finn couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face. “Me, too. I guess we’d better get this cleaned up before Daddy wakes up. You get the dustpan and I’ll get the mop.”
The two of them were sitting calmly at the table when Aiden wandered into the kitchen about twenty-five minutes later, attempting to not look guilty. Obviously they weren’t fooling him because his gaze narrowed as it flitted between them.
“What?” Aiden asked, looking around the kitchen. “What did you do?”
“Nothin’!” They chimed in unison and Finn dropped Kaylee a wink before giving his Cheerios his undivided attention.
“Hmm.” Aiden’s mumble was distinctly suspicious as he crossed the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. “You’d better hurry, Cupcake. Alice and her mom are going to be here soon.”
“Alice?” Finn asked.
“Kaylee’s got a play date this morning,” Aiden replied. “I told you last night.”
“Was I awake?”
“Barely,” Aiden grinned, sitting down in the chair beside him and running his fingers through Finn’s hair.
“We’re going to a bar,” Kaylee informed Finn around a mouthful of cereal.
“A what?” Finn exclaimed, choking on his own breakfast.
“A spa, Kayles,” Aiden giggled. “A spa.” He patted Finn on the back until he’d stopped coughing. “You’re going swimming in a mud pool and having a facial, not getting hammered and picking up boys.”
“Don’t forget our nails, Daddy.”
“As if I could,” Aiden said with a nod. “And their nails.”
“Sounds like fun,” Finn replied, although he could imagine several more interesting ways to pass a Saturday morning if he and Aiden were going to be alone—but apparently they were ideas that were not going to get past the thought stage, because Aiden shook his head, obviously reading his mind.
“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ve got a ransom to drop off at eleven.”
Finn put his spoon into his empty bowl and leaned back in his chair. “Seriously?” he questioned. “You’re seriously going to pander to that ass—istant park keeper?” He quickly amended his intended turn of phrase for Kaylee’s benefit.
“Honey, why don’t you go and get your bag from the hall closet so you’re ready when Mrs Willis and Alice get here?” Aiden waited for Kaylee to do as she was bid before he continued. “I’m not suggesting we let him get away with it. I’m just saying we should see how far he’s willing to take it. It’ll be fun, come on. We can hide in the bushes and keep watch. I promise I’ll let you kick his ass afterward,” he cajoled. “I’ll even hold your jacket.”
Finn studied Aiden’s face and shook his head in amazement. “I think you’ve just perfected your own Mission Impossible face.” He sighed heavily, sticking out his bottom lip. “Okay, but I’m only doing it ‘cause I get to hit him, and don’t you dare try to stop me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
*
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” Finn hissed in frustration. He wanted to get to the kicking Chris’ ass part, but instead he was hiding in a bush watching a brown paper bag. “You do realize we could be in bed right now.” He wrapped his arms around Aiden’s waist from behind and laid his chin on Aiden’s shoulder. “I could be doing this….” Finn slid one of his hands over the crotch of Aiden’s jeans. “Or this….” He pressed his lips to the nape of Aiden’s neck, flicking his tongue against the sun-warmed skin.
“Stop it,” Aiden complained, although it was obviously half-hearted. “Or I’ll be arrested for indecent exposure.”
Finn huffed a sigh into Aiden’s ear. “I’ve got a branch up my ass.” He was losing patience. Chris was five minutes late and they’d been standing in this stupid bush for half an hour. “I am so going to make him pay for this.”
“When you’ve caught the moron red-handed,” Aiden whispered, “what are you going to do with him?”
“Torture him.”
“How?”
“The little gem behind Door Number One is tying him to a chair in front of a Bieber concert on repeat until he’s singing that baby shit in his sleep.”
“Too harsh.”
“Behind Door Number Two there’s shaving his eyebrows off and then super-gluing them to his chin.”
“Too high school. Door Number Three?”
“Tying him to the rollercoaster track and putting the cars on warp speed.”
“Too homicidal. We want to humiliate him, not end up in the Big House,” Aiden chuckled. “I mean, I like to drop the soap as much as the next guy, but I’m too pretty for jail.”
“I’d protect you, with my big, manly muscles,” Finn teased, kissing his cheek. “You’d only have to drop the soap for me.”
Aiden turned his head and captured Finn’s lower lip, nibbling gently on the sensitive flesh before licking away any discomfort he’d caused with his tongue. “Aww, you’re so sweet,” he drawled with a hint of sarcasm. “As appealing as that sounds, I’d rather drop it in the comfort of the en suite when we’re alone, not surrounded by thirty guys named Butch, Duke and Thor.”
Finn opened his mouth to reply when Aiden’s hand stopped any words in their tracks when it covered his lips, nodding his head frantically toward the bench. His gaze widened as he watched the kidnapper approach the bench, glance around him to make sure he wasn’t being seen and then grab the bag and run hell for leather toward the park entrance. After a few moments of quiet contemplative silence, Aiden spoke first.
“That wasn’t.”
“No.”
“Wasn’t that?”
“Yeah.”
“What happens now?”
Finn answered in his best Ricky Ricardo voice, “I think somebody’s got some ‘esplainin’ to do.”
*
Aiden pulled the car to a stop in Finn’s parking space at the apartment complex and shut off the engine. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Finn ran a hand through his hair and stared up at the ceiling of the vehicle. “Just trying to figure out why, you know?” This was ridiculous. Never in a million years had he expected the kidnapper to be anyone other than Chris. He wasn’t sure what was the bigger shock. Finding out his friend had been telling the truth, or finding out the identity of the real culprit—both were equally bizarre.
“I’m assuming this is out of character?”
“God, yes. Totally. He’s the sweetest guy,” Finn replied, turning his head to gaze into Aiden’s concerned green eyes. “I keep trying to think of why he would have done it, but I got nothin’.”
Aiden brushed Finn’s bangs from his forehead in a tender gesture. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Finn nodded and threw open the
car door, pausing to gather his thoughts before getting out. Waiting for Aiden to lock the vehicle, he held out his hand and they walked across the parking lot and into the building. Unsure of what emotion he was running on, Finn took the two flights of stairs slowly. He was a confusing mix of anger, disappointment and mainly bewilderment. Finn wanted answers and he wanted them now. After a momentary pause outside the door to his own apartment, he carried on down the hall to his neighbor’s and knocked briskly on the hard wood.
The sound of padding feet could be heard from inside the apartment and the door opened a crack. “Hey, Finn!” He swallowed nervously. Meg sounded pleased to see him. He could only hope she’d feel the same way when he’d said what he had to say. She removed the chain and opened the door wider, beckoning them in. “Come on in. I’m sorry I haven’t dropped by for a while. Sometimes life gets in the way, you know?”
Finn and Aiden stepped inside and Meg closed the door behind them, slipping the chain back on before following them into the living-room, and gesturing to them to take a seat on the couch. He felt a tightening in his gut as he knew he was just about to wipe the smile off her face.
“Can I get you… two… a drink?” Meg looked pointedly between Finn and Aiden, her gaze lingering on Finn’s, her expression pressing him for information.
“Oh, God, sorry,” Finn mumbled. “Meg, this is my boyfriend, Aiden. Aiden, this is my friend, Meg.” He’d known Meg for three years, ever since she and her family had moved in. Sadly, her husband had left her six months ago, run off with a stripper with a stupid name like Candy Cane or some shit like that, leaving her alone at thirty with three kids and a mortgage.
“It’s nice to meet you, Aiden,” Meg grinned and held out her hand. “I’ve been telling Finn for some time that he needs to settle down and make some little Monties.”
“It’s good to meet you, Meg,” Aiden said with a smile, shaking her hand. “I dunno about the little Monties, I’m not sure I have the hips for it.”
“Well, if you can keep up with this whirlwind, you’re a better man than I am.” She paused and studied Finn’s face, and he blushed under her scrutiny. “Okay, out with it. You look like you can’t decided whether to laugh or cry, and it’s starting to freak me out. What’s going on?”