by Levine, Nina
“Her mother will be here tomorrow, but I’m not convinced Charlie wants to go home with her.”
“Her name’s Charlie? I love that.”
“It’s short for Charlotte.”
An insistent tap on the window of the café drew our attention. It was Hyde’s daughter. He promptly pushed his chair out and went outside to her where they engaged in a short conversation before making their way to the skate hire counter.
Charlie was a stunning girl with the same dark hair that Hyde had and a beautiful face I was sure the boys flocked to. I wondered how much stress she caused her father where boys were concerned. I remembered how much hell I’d given mine when I was a teenager. He swore half his grey hairs were from that time in my life. I’d had a new boyfriend every couple of months until I found one I really liked in my last year of school and had kept him for almost the entire year. My father hadn’t been excited about him and it had caused us numerous fights.
Hyde helped Charlie exchange skates and waited until she was back out on the rink before he came inside again. He ordered a drink and then joined me at the table.
After drinking some of his coffee, he said, “You got kids, Monroe?”
“No, not yet.”
“You want them?”
I nodded. My heart actually hurt at the thought of not having kids. “Yes,” I said quietly. This conversation had turned personal, fast. Another thing I hadn’t expected from him, but that was probably my bias against bikers. “I want a big family. Five kids. Maybe. Or three, at least. I guess it depends on my partner and what he wants. And whether those three have driven me insane before I can go for another one.” Why the hell was I sharing all this with him? It was like my mouth had a mind of its own and just kept going.
His lips twitched. It seemed to be a regular occurrence, but then again, I was babbling a little, so I could understand his amusement. Please God, let me shut up. “You’ve put some thought into this. But you haven’t found a father yet?”
I sighed. “Sadly, no. I’m flat out finding a man who likes meat, let alone one who wants to settle down and have kids.”
He frowned. “Meat? Who the fuck doesn’t like meat?”
“Right?! My thoughts exactly.” He was tall and he liked meat. And he smelt heavenly. I died a little on the inside. He wasn’t the man for me, but fuck, he was beginning to tick a lot of boxes.
He leant back in his seat, stretched his legs in front of him and reached his arms back so he could cradle the back of his head with his hands. Good Lord, did the man not know how sexy that move was when he did it? It was like having your favourite food laid out on a banquet in front of you and being on a nil-by-freaking-mouth diet.
“I guess there’s always IVF or some other shit you could try if you can’t find a guy who likes meat,” he said, his mouth curving into more of a grin.
I pursed my lips in mock annoyance with him. “You’re finding this meat thing hilarious, aren’t you? I’m telling you, it’s a serious thing to look for in a man.”
Still grinning. “I have no doubt. Tell me, what else are you looking for? Someone who flosses regularly? Or maybe someone who gets their tax in on time every year?”
I lifted a brow. “Flossing is very important. And honestly, I hadn’t thought of the tax thing. I may need to add it to my list.”
He laughed, and my belly fluttered at the sound. It was like a deep rumble of sexy goodness that I wanted to provoke over and over from him. “Ah, the mysterious list you mentioned the other night.”
“I did?” God, I didn’t remember that. What else had I said to him?
He shifted so he was leaning forward, his body and face closer to me. Dropping his voice to a low gravel, he said, “Yeah, you said I ticked two items off it. I had no idea what the fuck you were talking about, but it’s making sense now.” He paused for a beat before adding, “I’m guessing the fact I like meat gets me another tick.”
Okay, it was time for me to woman up. Hyde had me on all kinds of edge just by being in the same room as me. No man ever did that to me. I was the woman who could flirt with anyone and never get tongue-tied. And yet, Hyde was making me question my ability to even engage in adult conversation.
I leant forward, resting my elbows on my knees and putting my cleavage on full display for him. Hitting him with the sexiest smile I could muster up, I said, “Three ticks don’t make a list, tiger. You’re gonna have to do better than that.”
“I’m not looking to hit a list, sugar. But I will tell you, that vibrator of yours could learn a thing or two from me.”
Fuck.
Hyde-1. Monroe-0.
“Roe, I hurt my ankle.” Bree’s voice cut through the heat between Hyde and me, which was the saviour I needed right then. If not for her, I’d be sliding fast into dangerous territory, contemplating letting a biker show me a thing or two. Or three or four. Hell, why stop at four? Jesus.
I stood. “Here,” I said, motioning for her to come to me,” Sit down, honey. What did you do to it?”
She limped my way, her skates in her hands. “One of the assholes out on the rink pushed off the wall, straight into me, and I twisted my ankle as I fell.”
“Little shit,” I muttered as I crouched to take a look at her ankle. I had not even one ounce of an idea as to what I was looking for, but it didn’t appear to be swelling, so I figured that was a good thing.
“You can still walk on it?” Hyde asked.
Bree nodded. “Yeah, but it hurts really bad.”
He shifted to sit on the edge of his seat so he was closer to her. After taking a good look at her ankle, he said, “It doesn’t look crooked or swollen. Is it numb at all?”
She pressed on her ankle in a few spots. “No.”
He stood. “Good. I’ll get you some ice. Wait here.”
As we watched him go, Bree said, “He’s hot, Roe. Do you know him or did you just meet him here?”
I stopped drooling over his ass and turned to face her. This checking-out-guys side to her was new. Well, at least the sharing it with me was new. Her mother would have had a fit if she knew Bree was checking out a man old enough to be her father, but I figured it was a natural progression in a girl’s life. I didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t talk to me about guys, so I ran with it. “I’ve met him a few times now, but I don’t really know him. And yeah, he’s hot as sin, but definitely not my type.”
She hit me with a look of shock. “You’re kidding, right? Like, why is he not your type? What doesn’t he have that you’re looking for?”
“Bree, baby, he’s the bad boy your mama will warn you about when you get a little older. Bad boys are okay to fool around with, but you don’t date them.”
“So all your life you’ve dated the good guys? Is that working for you?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “When did you become so sassy?” Honestly, I loved her sass, just not when it was directed at me.
A smile spread across her face. “Just pointing out something you may want to consider. You know, kinda like you do all the time for me.”
I returned her smile. “Smartass,” I muttered. “And while I haven’t met the man of my dreams yet, I’m not sure a guy like Hyde would fit that bill.”
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.
Before I had a chance to respond, Charlie’s phone lit up with a few texts that came in one after the other, causing her to swear after she read them. “That fucking asshole!”
“Boy troubles?” Monroe asked, completely shifting gears from our conversation to give all her attention to Charlie. How women managed to do that was beyond me.
Charlie met her gaze and nodded. “It’s our anniversary today, and he promised me he’d Facetime tonight, but my friend just sent me photos of him drunk at a party. And that’s after he blew me off yesterday to hang with his friends instead.”
“Oh honey, you need to let him know that he’s going to have to up his game or else you’re out of there.”
“No,” I said forcefully. “She needs to end it with him.” The little shit needed to be wiped from her memory as far as I was concerned. He was lucky I didn’t live in Melbourne.
Monroe gave me a look that even I could decipher as meaning keep out of this. Taking Charlie’s arm, she pulled her close. “Okay, he’s going to call you tomorrow all apologetic. I recommend you be icy to him. Let him know he fucked up. Then he’s going to try to make things right. The trick here is to accept his apology, but make it clear that there’s no way you’ll ever accept this again. You may need to stay icy for a little while, but then again, you don’t want to drag that out too long, because then that just makes you bitchy. And no guy is going to put up with bitchy for very long. But girl, what you need to be prepared for is this—if he screws up again, you need to stick to your guns and ditch his ass.” At Charlie’s look of horror, Monroe raised her brows and added, “Life is too short to put up with shit from a man, honey. There are a lot of other guys out there who would kill to have you by their side. Don’t settle for less than the best.”
“Or,” I said, “you could just tell him where to go now and save
a lot of time and effort.”
They both stared at me as if I was talking out of my ass and then turned back to each other and ignored what I said. When Bree hobbled around the car to join them, I said, “You wanna get off that ankle and rest it.” She also ignored me and started talking boy shit with Monroe and Charlie.
I spent the next half hour checking in with King about club shit that was going down and waiting for Roach while doing my best to drown out the conversation taking place between the three girls. I tried to interrupt at one point to ask Monroe if anything was missing from her car, but she quickly shook her head and continued on with the boy talk.
I caught bits and pieces of what she told Charlie, and while I was on board with the ball-breaking advice she seemed to be giving, I wondered how the hell anyone survived dating her. She’d be hard fucking work with all her demands.
* * *
Tenille texted me early the next morning. Shit was going down at home with Craig, so she wouldn’t make it to Sydney that afternoon. Charlie gave the impression she didn’t care, but I saw the disappointment cross her face for a split second when she heard the news. My kid was a fucking pro at acting unaffected by family stuff, but I could see her mask. In the few days she’d been with me, not much had changed between us, but because I knew she hid her real feelings, I tolerated the attitude she still flung at me. Mostly. Every now and then, I pushed back, and it was in those moments when she let me that I knew we’d eventually find each other.
Tenille had organised for Charlie to keep up with her schoolwork via email, and I made sure she was up and getting ready to do it before I left home each day. That morning had been a struggle because she wanted to sleep instead. We’d argued for a good half hour about it. Once I was convinced she’d stay up and get on to it, I left for the clubhouse. King was still hunting the Italian who supposedly had something to do with Jacko’s murder, and he’d told me the day before that he wanted me, Devil, and Nitro with him when he paid a visit to Salvatore Ricci, one of Storm’s enemies. Salvatore had been out of town for a few days and was scheduled to arrive home in a few hours. King’s plan was to catch him when he least suspected it, and he figured that would be when Salvatore made a stop to visit his mistress on his way home.