I remembered the man who used to tickle me until I’d scream for mercy, but then beg for more as soon as he stopped. The father who tucked me in at night with endless stories of fairies and gnomes. For the last fifteen years, I’d thought about him at least once every day, prayed for his safety and silently wished he’d return for us one day. But now it was abundantly clear that the man I called Dad, was happy to move on and forget us completely. He’d erased that chapter of his life and in doing so, disowned my brother and me.
Chapter 5
AIDEN
“Sean, can you take Liam home?” I asked one of the regulars at the gym.
“Who’s Liam?”
“He’s the young lad who started working a few weeks ago. The one over there with the bucket polishing the mirrors.” I gestured in Liam’s direction proud of my new hire. The kid took his job seriously and put in a great deal of work.
Sean was a familiar face at McCarthy’s, he’d been coming in here for ten years if not more. He was one of the first kids who came in and used the gym to work out their anger. He’d transformed from being an abused teen with a lot of pent up anger to now completing his second year of med school. Nothing made me happier than these kids rewriting their life stories.
“Aye, no problem.”
“Erin isn’t going to like this,” Liam said.
“You let me worry about what she will and won’t like,” I said.
Liam shrugged as he put on his jacket and headed toward the door with Sean.
“Aiden, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
He had some bravado, I’d give him that. Must have run in the family. I smiled at his display of macho behavior that in no way could he back up with fists. The kid didn’t realize that I could in so much as blow, and he’d fall like a feather. Still, I appreciated his need to back his sister. It was apparent how much Erin meant to him. A lot of fire in that family that could get them into trouble if they weren’t careful or started hanging out with the wrong kind of people.
I walked to the back room and looked over everything to make sure it was set up right. A slow smile spread over my face and I licked my lips. I usually didn’t go out of my way to try and impress women. My body was already grabbed more attention than I even wanted it to. If I was honest, I hadn’t really taken a second look at a woman in fifteen years. My right hand got regular workouts, and that seemed to be enough. It was much more straightforward than getting tangled up in a relationship. But from the moment I saw Erin, there was something different about her. My reaction to her was sure as fuck different and my body seemed to respond to her instead of the other way around, like I was used to.
“Hello?” Erin’s voice echoed from inside the cavernous gym. I smiled and went out to greet her. She looked even hotter than I remembered. Her hair was tied in a ponytail again, leaving my hands itching to pull it back and kiss her red painted lips.
Red lips. Makeup. Just a tiny bit, but holy shit was the woman a knockout. The best part was she seemed to be completely unaware of her own physical beauty.
“Hey there, A Chara,” I said, walking toward her.
“Is Liam, ready to go?” she asked.
“He’s not here.”
“What do you mean, he’s not here?” she asked, her eyes frantically searching the room.
“He left already. There’s no reason to keep him on such a tight leash. Liam is a good kid; he won’t let you down.” I stalked closer to her, taking her hand. Her eyes flashed to where we were connected.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“One of the guys, Sean, took him home.”
“You let him go home with a stranger?” she accused me.
“Sean’s not a stranger. Trust me, I’d never put Liam at risk. Text him if you want. He should be almost home by now.”
Erin’s eyebrows shot up. She dug in her purse taking out an old phone, and began tapping at the screen frantically. She held the phone firmly in her hand, and she waited for a response. “You couldn’t have called to let me know? He specifically asked me to pick him up tonight,” she muttered, still staring at her phone.
“I didn’t have your number,” I shrugged. Her arms were crossed defensively again as her familiar fire rose to the surface.
“I call bullshit because Liam has it. It’s the first number in his speed dial.”
Her phone blared an annoying neon, and she glanced down, a smile of relief falling on her sweet red lips. “Okay, that’s Liam, he’s home. Phew!”