Chapter 24 #2
I shake my head. “Nope. I’ve never even taken her out to dinner. Everything just kind of had a way of falling into place with us.”
“Hash!” Delaney exclaims. “You have to take her out on a date!”
“Someday.” Maybe if all this shit ever blows over and I kill the motherfucker who dared to touch what’s mine.
“Go home, Hash.”
Yeah.
I down the last of my drink as I pull my wallet out of my back pocket and lay money on the bar for my tab.
“You’ll find him someday,” I tell Delaney. “Any man who makes you wait isn’t worth your time.”
“Someday.” She gives me a small smile. “Bye, Hash. I look forward to meeting your girl.”
I nod my head as I walk out of the bar and head home to my girl and kid.
Trick is standing in front of the stairs, blocking my way to Aisling.
“Move,” I growl, not wanting to see his fucking face.
“How’s Aisling?” he asks, ignoring me.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your fucking business after the way you talked to her the other night.” Trick’s face might be my next punching bag.
“Yeah, about that.” Trick’s arm raises as he rubs the back of his head, looking uncomfortable. “I shouldn’t have come at her like that. It wasn’t my place.”
“No shit. You don’t ever get in her face like that. If you have a problem, you come to me.” I point at myself. “What the fuck was your problem? She hadn’t even met you.”
Trick solemnly hangs his head. “I just have some shit to work through. It won’t happen again. She seems like a nice girl. The old ladies love her.”
I sigh, annoyed that I’m even having this conversation. “We all know you have shit to work through. I won’t say I’m not still pissed because I am. You need to apologize to Aisling.”
Trick nods. “I will. Are we good?”
“You’re my brother. Just because I’m pissed at you doesn’t mean we aren’t good,” I tell him, bringing him in for a one-armed hug as I slap him on the back.
“Let me know if she needs anything,” Trick says as he steps out of my way.
I nod a silent thanks as I climb the stairs, anxious to get back.
I slowly open my bedroom door, not wanting to make any noise in case they were both sleeping.
I slip inside, quietly shutting the door as I take in the scene in front of me.
Cormac is passed out, sleeping on his stomach with his little butt up in the air.
How he can sleep like that is beyond me.
It looks uncomfortable as fuck. Aisling is passed out on my side with the good side of her face shoved in my pillow.
A melted ice pack is resting in the palm of her hand, about to fall off the bed.
God, she’s fucking gorgeous.
Delaney’s right.
She can do better than me, but I’ll die proving to her that I deserve to be right where I am because I can’t imagine a life without this woman in it.
I take my boots off, not wanting the clunking of walking on the floor to wake them up before I make my way over to the bed and take the ice pack out of Aisling’s hand.
She stirs, her nose wrinkling up as she moves around. Her eyes crack open.
“Hey,” she says, her voice cracking with sleep.
“Hey, baby doll,” I say back as I sit on the edge of the bed, her knees curling around me. “You get something to eat?”
“Yeah. Evan brought up a cheeseboard.” She points to the half-eaten tray at the foot of the bed. “Did you get everything you needed to do done?”
I sigh as I rub my hand down my face, not wanting to talk about this with her now, but I know I need more answers.
“Holy shit,” Aisling exclaims as she bolts up in bed, her eyes widening. “What happened to your hand?”
Fuck.
I look down at my hand and I flex it, the bandage that Doc wrapped around it stretching with it.
“Went a few rounds with Cyrus’ bag.” Technically, it’s not a lie.
Aisling grabs my hand as she turns it around, examining it. “Do you usually hurt yourself like this when you work out with it? It was obviously pretty bad. Blood has soaked through.”
“I forgot to glove up.” I shrug, hoping she’ll drop it.
Aisling studies my face, doubt swirling in her eyes.
She doesn’t believe me.
“Are you okay?” she asks, already knowing the answer.
“I’m as okay as I can be right now. Don’t worry about me. I want you to focus on getting yourself better. Did you call Frankie? I think you should take a couple of days off.”
Aisling’s face falls slightly at my changing the topic, but she doesn’t question it.
“No,” she groans. “I’m dreading it, honestly. She’s going to freak out, and as much as I love her, I don’t want to deal with that right now.”
“The sooner you get it over with, the sooner you won’t have to deal with it. Sometimes, thinking about doing something is more stressful than actually doing what needs to be done.”
Aisling’s mouth presses into a thin line. “I don’t like the reasonable version of Hash.”
A loud laugh bursts out of me. “Sorry, baby doll. It doesn’t come out much, but sometimes things need to be said.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she grumbles.
I pull her in for a hug, pressing her against me until she rests the good side of her face on my shoulder.
“I hate to bring this up again. I know you said he was wearing a ski mask, but were there any other identifiable markings on him that you saw? Any tattoos visible or a certain type of clothing that stood out to you?” I ask, trying my best to keep my voice even and not lose my fucking shit again.
Aisling hums quietly as she thinks it over. “I don’t think so. I’m sorry, babe. All I can remember is the black ski mask.”
Goddamnit.
“It’s okay.” I squeeze her side lightly. “We’ll find him.”
If it’s the last thing I do on this earth.
“I hope so,” she mumbles.
“If you’re feeling up to it, I’m going to have the guys and me go over to your place and clean it up if you want to come with us.”
Aisling is silent for a long moment. I almost thought she hadn’t heard me until she finally spoke. “I’m scared to go back there.”
“That’s why I want you to come with me. You won’t be alone.”
“Yeah,” she says quietly, sounding unconvinced.
“I know you’re not ready, but I don’t want you to wait until you are. You might never be ready, and I don’t want him to take your home from you. That’s your space. You need to claim it back."
“I don’t want Cormac there while I do it.”
She doesn’t want him to see her break down if it happens. Which I have a feeling it might.
“We can have Evan watch him, or if you tell Frankie what’s going on, she can.”
Aisling goes silent again as she thinks over the options.
“Let’s see if Evan will. Tomorrow is already going to be stressful; I don’t want to add to it. Besides, I think Cormac is comfortable here. I don’t want to keep shuffling him around.”
She thinks Cormac is comfortable here.
I’m smiling like a fucking idiot.
“Are you ready to go inside?” I ask Aisling as we stand outside the front of her house on the lawn, staring at the front door.
I wrap my arm around her shoulders, drawing her in tight. She told me she was fine this morning when we were getting ready to head over here, but my baby doll forgets her eyes are an open book.
And I could tell she was scared shitless.
She put on a strong front, though; it didn’t falter when we dropped Cormac off with Evan or when we pulled out of the drive. In fact, she didn’t tense up like this until we pulled into her drive.
She takes a deep breath. “I think so.”
“We can stay out here all day until you’re ready. Cyrus has no problem cleaning up,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
“Only for baby mama. No one else gets this from me. I hope you fuckers know that,” Cyrus says as he pins us with a look as he walks by with a shop vac.
I chuck the bag of cleaning supplies I have in my hand at his head. It falls short and hits him in the back.
“Hey,” Cyrus whines. “What was that for?”
“What did I tell you about calling her baby mama?”
“It’s fine, babe,” Aisling tries to tell me, but it’s not.
She’s not just my baby mama.
“You’re no fun now that you’re a dad.”
“Shut the fuck up. I’ll still whoop your ass.”
“No more fighting,” Aisling tells us. “I don’t need anything else in my house broken.”
I tense, thinking I’d fucked up and crossed a line, making her feel worse about all of this. I look down at her and see her smirking up at me.
Thank fucking god.
“You sure?” I ask, not wanting to push her to do something she isn’t ready for.
She inhales deeply. “I’m sure. I need to see the damage and figure out what to do next.”
I don’t correct her when she says I.
Little does she know that she isn’t spending another night in this house alone if I can help it.