Our eyes met and we stared at each other for just a second before a smile curved her lips and she sat up straight, dusting her hands off on her jeans and grabbing two coffee cups.
“Good morning. I didn’t realize anyone else was up,” she said quietly.
My hands fell to my waist, my body still struggling to pull in enough air as I took a few steps forward on shaky legs. Glancing at the cups in her hands, I raised a brow before redirecting my gaze right at her and dragging my bottom lip through my teeth.
“Using my yard as a place to have breakfast dates now?”
“Dates?” She looked down at her hands in surprise and back up at me with a relaxed smile. “Oh, no. Kenny was the only one up and we had a coffee while we were plotting breakfast for you guys. If that’s okay with you?”
“Kenny? First of all, Kenny is never up first. He doesn’t drink coffee before noon and he hates breakfast, unless it's served in a shot glass.” I kept my voice low and quiet, hoping she understood the hint that I was trying to give her.
“Then why—?” She cut herself off, her eyes rolling. “I’m so stupid. That’s not… I mean to say, I’m not…” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and shook her head as she swung the mugsin her hands.
“A cock tease?” I smirked, my brow still raised.
“I should get to work,” she responded, all hint of her smile gone as she tucked her hair behind her ear, only to think better of it and let it fall forward.
It was then that I saw the mark upon her face. Everything Deeks had told me yesterday came rushing back and I felt an odd, misplaced anger start to rise inside of me. Closing the distance between us, I headed over to the bench and towered over her. So much time had passed since I’d been around anyone and had to show compassion or any kind of gentleness. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I had any of that shit left in me anymore, but that didn’t stop me from raising a hand to her face and slowly pushing her chin up with my finger.
“Deeks told me what happened yesterday,” I said softly as I guided her face from side to side and inspected the damage.
She attempted to evade my inspection with a turn of her head, but my hand made sure she stayed in place, leaving only her eyes to dart off to the side. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“You know, I heard somewhere that fine was chick code for I’m anything but fine.” My finger and thumb slid around her chin, holding her still enough so I could try and force her to look at me without causing her any pain. “I might be your typical asshole, but I’m sorry that happened to you because of me. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“Fine means exactly that, and this wasn’t because of anybody but that plastic psycho bitch. She even convinced the chief to stop his daughter from seeing my brother. They’re now fucking in the Chandler’s hayloft,” she said, her eyes sparkling with humor.
“There are worse places, I suppose,” I answered through asigh. Slowly releasing my hold on her face, I shoved both my hands into my pockets and looked back out around the yard. “Maisey Sutton won’t be coming near you again, whether you say you’re fine or not. If Howard Sutton does, I want to hear about it, you understand?” My eyes flashed back to hers. While she was smiling and pretending all this was okay, I knew she could see that I thought it was anything but. I could also see her questioning why I seemed to care about all of this so much. “Like I said, you’re an asset to me now. I protect what’s mine.”
“So you’re trusting me to report to you, rather than… how didMaiseysay it? Put a guard dog on me?”
“What’s for breakfast?” I asked, ignoring where she was going with that.
Her mouth fell open as though she was going to argue. For a moment I thought she would, but she apparently considered how many favors running her mouth had done her to date and reconsidered. “Biscuits and sausage gravy, bacon on the side. They’re great for hangovers.”
Stepping back, I gave her a small nod and a tight smile, deciding it was best to make my escape there and then before she changed her mind and went back to discuss the whole guard dog business. “I’ll be in my office for the morning. I have work to do. I’m sure Kenny will keep you amused for the day.”
Raising her eyebrows, she practically glared at me for the Kenny comment. “I’ll bring you breakfast and coffee when it’s ready and you can tell me what you’d like me to take care of. Although I’m sure your heathens have plenty of laundry and mess for me to pick up.”
She pushed up off the bench and emptied the last of thecoffee from the mugs before strolling toward the door, flashing one last lingering look over her shoulder at the sun.
Huffing out a small laugh, I called out as she walked away. “Ayda?”
She stopped, but didn’t turn. It was as though she was sucking in the breath and fortitude to turn around. When she did, it was a smooth twist on the balls of her feet, her ankles crossed as the mugs clinked together. “Yeah?”
“Don’t forget to knock this time.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ayda
Drew’s comment had made me smile. So much that I found myself working diligently with a curl to my lips. I’d just made a double brew of coffee when Kenny turned up with a trunk full of groceries on top of the list I’d given him. It took almost as long to unload them as it did to get the biscuits started.
The kitchen was a full industrial set up—stainless steel appliances, a walk in fridge, which, with absolutely no surprise, held beer rather than food. It was practically unused aside from that and I wondered why. There had to be at least one of the men and women in this space that could read a recipe and cook.
When I suggested that to Kenny, however, all I got was a hyena’s laugh and a snort. No explanation whatsoever.
I was more adept at cooking microwave burritos, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t cook. It was more that I didn’t have time to. Well, that and the fact that it brought back memories of cooking with my mom when I was a kid. It was what we did when I got home from school. She and I would make Daddy his dinner. I made a mean chicken fried steak, and the best mashed potato in the state of Texas, according to the ribbon I had from the State Fair.
