I gasp, turning to face him. “Oh my God. Was it you who did it the night I came back from the hospital?”
He chuckles, rinsing a plate off. “Yeah. I’ve been trying to get them out for a few years now.”
“Have you been to the council?”
“Every week,” he admits.
I grimace. “I’m sorry. The noise is bad over here so I can’t imagine what it’s like living right next to them.”
“Hopefully, they’ll be evicted soon. I’m more determined now that I can’t crash at my cousin’s.”
“Is this your best friend too?” I ask, my lips twitching when I remember his ramblings about her.
He presses his hands against the edge of the sink, his muscles bulging. “Yeah. But I get it. Kind of.”
“And your cousins with Hope and Hayden?”
“I am. Don’t hold it against me.”
I chuckle, unlatching Asher from my breast to wind him again. “You have a big family then. I can remember Hope telling me about some of you, and Hayden is always talking about your family getaways.”
“We do. And we’re all close,” he tells me. “You’ll love my mum though. She’s awesome.”
“I like that,” I tell him. “I’m close to my parents. For me, they were the best people to be around growing up. I’d get picked on because I liked doing family stuff with them.”
“Do you have any siblings?” he asks, drying his hands on a towel.
I look down at my son wistfully. Stephan hasn’t had a chance to Facetime with us yet, so all he’s had is a picture. I really want him to meet Asher. “I have a brother, Stephan. He’s in the Army, so I don’t get to see him much. He’s a lot older than me too.”
“You miss him?” he guesses.
“I do.”
Jasmine comes running into the room, holding her game. It’s a Frozen edition of Pop-up Pirate, and she loves it.
“Maddox! Maddox! Come play with me.”
He turns to me, silently asking if it’s okay. I shrug. “Go ahead, if you like. I need to get this one up to bed, but you can play if you want.”
He beams, turning to Jasmine. “Get ready to have your arse whooped. I’m a pro at this game.”
“Nuh, uh. I’m the best at it. Mummy tells me all the time.”
“She is good,” I warn him, standing from my chair.
“We’ll see,” he murmurs, following her into the living room.
I follow behind, leaving them on the floor, and carry on upstairs, heading for my room. Asher has another Moses basket inside. Until he’s sleeping better through the night, I’m keeping him in here. I want him close to me.
I wind up his projector mobile after placing him down in his coat. He’ll wake up again soon, and I’ll change and bath him.
His lips pucker, causing me to smile. “Night, baby boy,” I whisper, pulling his blanket up to his waist.
I turn on the monitor before heading downstairs. When I enter the living room, both Maddox and Jasmine are laying on their stomachs, the pop-up toy in the middle of them.
“You’re staring,” Jasmine whispers, not taking her eyes off the device.
I have a million things to do, but I can’t help but sit down to watch them.
“Scared?” Maddox taunts.
“Nuh, uh,” Jasmine mutters, before slowly sliding out a crystal stick. She lets out a breath when Olaf doesn’t pop out.
Maddox rubs his hands together, eyeing the barrel in concentration.
“Scared?” Jasmine taunts back, giggling when Maddox frowns at her, sticking his tongue out.
“Kid, I’ve got this. Watch the professional.”
“Famous last words,” she sings as he reaches for a crystal.
I laugh when Olaf pops off the top and onto the carpet. Jasmine squeals, rolling onto her back to kick her feet and hands up in the air. “Yes!”
Maddox is frozen, staring at the game. “No. No. No. Let’s do this again. I let you win.”
She rolls back onto her stomach, shaking her head. “Of course you did.”
“Put it back together. It’s on,” he tells her, narrowing his gaze.
I laugh, sitting back to watch them. Seeing Jasmine laughing and giggling has warmth spreading through me. For the first time since her father left, she looks truly happy. She doesn’t have the same hesitancy she normally has when being loud and playful. She hasn’t stopped to look at the door, wondering if her dad is going to walk in and tell her to be quiet. She is finally free to be a child.
And I have to wonder, who is Maddox Carter and where did he come from?
CHAPTER EIGHT
MADDOX
Slipping my boots off inside the door, I shake the rain from my hair. Ella, Paisley’s cook for the bed and breakfast, beams when she spots me walking in.
“Have you come for your lunch?”
Winking, I give her a firm nod. “You know it. What did you cook for us today, gorgeous?”
Ella is an easy going, gifted cook in her fifties. Her food is phenomenal.
Since the work is still ongoing for the new addition to Paisley’s establishment, she has given Ella longer hours, so me and the boys have food at lunch.
I reckon it has more to do with Landon hating that Paisley was cooking for us, and personally, I don’t care. I get fed, and that’s the main issue. Most jobs we work at we have to go out in search of lunch.
“Beef stew today, Maddox. Perfect for the weather.”
It is. A storm is brewing, and it won’t be long until the rain pours. It will be welcome, since it has been muggy all day.
Mark trails in behind me, slipping off his own muddy boots. I reach for a bread roll as he leans in, kissing Ella’s cheek. “Smells good, Ella.”
She swats his arm. “Away with you, boy. Go sit in the dining room. I’ll bring the pot out in a minute.”
“You want a hand?” we both ask.
She arches an eyebrow, giving us both that unnerving stare. “No. Because it will be gone before you sit down.”
I grin, and around a mouthful of bread, I mutter, “You still love us.”
“Go,” she orders.
Taking that as our cue, we exit the kitchen and head into the dining room, where a few of the others are already seated.
Paisley has closed the doors to the area, giving us privacy, away from her guests.
“So, what happened to you last night?” Mark asks as we join Landon and Paisley at their table.
My eyebrows pull together. “Nothing happened to me last night.”
Landon grunts but doesn’t say anything. Mark, however, doesn’t have the same hesitancy. “Then why did you bail on drinks at The Ginn Inn?”
Really? That’s what this is about?
“Bro, I know we’re family, but it doesn’t give you a right to know my every move. I get it, you can’t survive without me to liven up the party, but you’ll have to live with it.”
“You’re a dick. You know that, right?”
I grin. “Yep.”
“You aren’t going to tell us where you’ve been then?” Landon asks, groaning when Ella brings in the slow cooker filled with beef stew.
“Food,” I rumble, flying out of my chair.
“Don’t break anything,” Paisley yells as Landon bumps me out of the way.
“Wanker!”
“Prick,” he snaps, elbowing me when I reach for a bowl first.
I fill my bowl up until it’s filled to the brim, then look around for the bread. Ella notices, and smiles. “I’ll bring it over.”
Bending down, I kiss her cheek. “You’re the best.”
I give Landon a smug smirk before making my way back to our table. The others follow, taking their seats.
“I don’t get it. You’re always the one who is first at the pub.”
I bailed once. Once. “I had a better offer.” I spoon more of the beef out of the bowl, savouring the taste that explodes on my tongue.
“A better offer?” Mark asks, his spoon paused hal
fway to his mouth. “Like what?”
For fuck’s sake. They aren’t going to drop it. “I had a roast dinner cooked for me. It was the full works.”
Landon nods like he understands. “I’d skip the pub for that too. God, I’ve not had a roast in—”
“Since Sunday, Landon,” Paisley reminds him, rolling her eyes.
I chuckle under my breath. “Wait, who cooked you a roast? Because it wasn’t my mum or any of the aunts. I’d have known.”
I snort. “Of course you would.”
“I would. I’m their favourite.”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “Does that help you sleep at night?”
He snatches a roll off the plate Ella places in the centre of the table, growling low in his throat. “Why so evasive?”
“Why such a dick?” I mutter, grinning around a mouthful of bread.
Landon grunts, sitting back in his chair so he can give me that unnerving stare of his. “You were with a girl.”
“Was it Amelia? Charlotte said you’ve been spending a lot of time there,” Paisley comments.
It was. And I have been. She’s pretty cool. And so is Jasmine and Asher. Plus, the kid has my name; he has a right to know where he got his kickass name from.
“It is,” Mark states, grinning.
I shrug. “Yeah, and? She’s cool. And she can cook.”
Mark frowns, straightening in his seat. “Wait, doesn’t she have kids?”
My lips twist. “Yes, so?”
I want to punch his smug grin off his face. “Didn’t you have a rule for not fucking single mums?”
I throw the spoon at him before picking up a clean one. “I’m not fucking her. We’re just friends.”
Landon grunts. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true. Look, I’ll be honest, it’s hard for her to keep her eyes off me, but we have a mutual agreement. She feeds me, and I let her ogle my sexy as fuck body.”
“I’m sure she’s over the moon,” Paisley utters dryly.
I nod, finishing the last of the stew. “Said it’s the best thing to ever have happened to her.”
The door to the dining room slides open and Louisa, Paisley’s receptionist, pokes her head through the gap. “Paisley, you need to get out here. Cluck has damaged one of the guest’s cars and it won’t start. Something has come loose. Now he’s chasing Rex around the car park, scaring some of the kids.”
“Fuck!” Landon growls. “I’m going to kill that damn bird and give it to Ella to cook.”
“Landon,” Paisley exhales, her eyes bugging out. She turns to Louisa, forcing a smile. “Tell them to come in and grab something to eat. I’ll call my brother to come and take a look at the car.”
Once Paisley and Landon leave the room, Mark and I share a look before nearly tipping our chairs over to get a second bowl. There is no way her guests are eating my lunch.
A group of people are walking in when we retake our seats. The kids go off into the corner where Paisley has set up a little play area whilst the adults walk to the food bar, eating all my food.
“So, what’s so special about this Amelia chick?” Mark asks as he dips his bread into the stew.
“Does there need to be anything special about her?”
“Yes. Like I said, you don’t do single mums.”
“I’m not fucking her,” I snap, a little more heatedly than I meant to, causing him to grin.
“But you want to.”
“Can’t a guy just be friends with a girl without all this crap?”
“You, friends with a female?” He chuckles, shaking his head. “Nah.”
“Are you forgetting my best friend is a female?”
“She’s also your cousin,” he reminds me, shrugging.
“You lot need to get your own lives and stay out of mine.”
“Whatever,” he mutters, typing away on his phone. I leave him to it, my gaze wandering over to where the kids are playing. There is a little girl the same age as Jasmine playing in the small play area. A little boy with bright red hair storms over, snatching the plastic pan the little girl was clutching out of her hand. Her bottom lip trembles for a few seconds before she begins to wail, the noise echoing over the sound of my men chattering.
If that had been Jasmine, I would have told her to snatch it back and smack the kid over the head with it. I guess parents don’t condone that shit or something.
Kids scared me before. Sunday was okay, but she was also family. However, Jasmine isn’t, and I like the kid. She’s cool. I’m still not sure if I want kids in the future, but then I’m still really young. The only commitment I ever make is to food.
“Can I join you?”
I snap back to the present at the sound of the seductive voice purring close by. I glance away from the screaming child to turn to the owner of the voice. A gorgeous brunette with high cheeks bones, rounded chin, and a face caked with makeup, doesn’t wait for a reply as she sets her bowl on the table, taking a seat between Mark and I.
“Hey,” Mark greets, and I turn my gaze back to the children, watching as the little boy pushes the girl to the floor. He has to be about eight or nine, way older than her, the little fucker.
Where the fuck are her parents?
A little boy even smaller than the girl begins to scream at the boy, stepping in front of her like a little hero. He lifts his hand, catapulting a chocolate bar towards the bully. It hits him dead between the eyes. I chuckle under my breath, silently cheering him on.
“Leave my sister alone, you big meany,” he cries out.
“God, if I knew screaming kids would be allowed in here, I would have gotten a room somewhere else.”
My attention snaps her way, a low growl rumbling up my throat. “They’re kids.”
Her lips twist in disgust. Clearly, she’s not clicking on to my annoyance. “The owner should think twice about letting them in,” she tells us with a chuckle before looking up at me with a flirtatious smile. She licks her bottom lip, lowering her lashes. “I’m Alice, by the way. You could make my stay better by coming to my room with me. Maybe you could help me drown out that God awful sound.”
My gaze hits Mark with an ‘are you hearing this’ look, before turning back to her. “No thanks.”
“What do you mean ‘no thanks’?” Alice asks, her tone sharper.
Mark chuckles. “Maybe you should go.”
Her eyes bulge out when my gaze goes back to the kids fighting. “Oh my God, they aren’t yours, are they?”
My lips press together. “No, and even if they were, I’d still let them do what the fuck they wanted.”
She forces a laugh, waving me off. “But you’ve got to agree the owner shouldn’t let them in. It should be a place to relax.”
“Um,” Mark grumbles when I stare down at the woman, my eyes narrowed.
She keeps on, not feeling the tension in the room. “And she needs to get a better cook. Jesus. This is vile.”
“Get out!” I grit out.
She drops her spoon into her bowl, turning to face me. “What?”
“I said, get out. You can bitch about the noise, you can even bitch about how this place is run, but don’t, and I mean don’t, bitch about Ella. She feeds me.”
“Ella?” she asks, slowly scanning the room when she notices the chatter has stopped.
“Yes, Ella. There is not one thing fucking wrong with her cooking.”
“I brought muffins,” Charlotte sings, stepping into the room. She spots me and Mark and heads over to us, dropping the large box down on the table. All the others groan, most of the men scattering out of the room. “There’s some new cupcakes in here too.”
She opens the first box, and I know from experience not to be deceived by the smell or decoration.
“They look amazing,” Alice gushes, still here.
Charlotte tucks her hair behind her ear, bouncing on her feet. “Help yourself. I have loads more in the car.”
“Yeah, you should have one,” I tell the girl, before tur
ning back to Charlotte. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because you only cook this much when you have something on your mind.”
She loses her smile, scanning the room. “It’s nothing.”
“Charl—”
Alice suddenly pushes away from the table, spitting muffin all over the table before getting up. “What the fuck is in that?” she screams.
Charlotte’s bottom lip trembles. “Were they too sugary?”
“It has a tub of salt in it,” Alice screams, her face reddening.
“I guess you should go wash your mouth out,” I murmur waspily.
She pushes her bag over her shoulder. “Where is the manager?”
Paisley steps through, cuddling the bird to her chest. “Can I help you?”
Alice squeaks, stepping back. “You bring flea-ridden pets in here?”
Charlotte bites her lip as Rex runs up to her, rubbing his snout up her leg. “Rex doesn’t have fleas. He’s well taken care of.”
“I wasn’t speaking to you,” Alice spits out. “And I was on about the duck.”
“Cluck is harmless,” Charlotte assures her.
“Why are you still talking?” Alice snaps, curling her lip at Charlotte.
Paisley’s face tightens. “I’ll not have you speaking to my guests in that manner.”
“I’m your guest. But not anymore. This place is a joke.”
“Then go,” Paisley retorts. “No one is stopping you.”
Gasping, Alice grits her teeth. “I’ll be leaving a bad review.”
Paisley shrugs. “I’m sure you will.”
After watching her storm out, Paisley then turns to us, narrowing her gaze. “What did you do?”
Mark huffs. “Nothing. She was just one of those whiney bitches.”
I notice Charlotte pale when she hears ‘whiney bitches’. “Charlotte? You okay?”
She steps away from the table, unable to meet my gaze. “Yeah. I need to go. I forgot to feed Katnip.”
Before we can stop her, she’s gone, brushing past Landon on her way out. “Charlotte?” he calls out. “Wait, I’m done.” Turning back to us, he gives us a questioning look.
“She’s been acting weird a lot lately.”
He rubs the back of his neck. “Shit! I need to spend some time with her.”
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