“Fair.”He had a point.“Thank you.”
Thank youwas such a flimsy set of words for him going out of his way to be here with me as I dealt with Aidan’s mess.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Drawing in a deep breath, I forced myself to look away from the poster as I stretched out my legs. We’d been sitting here forever, just waiting. I hated waiting. I hated not knowing what came next.
This wasn’t my mess—I knew that. No one would’ve blamed me for not getting involved, but I couldn’t shake the need to do something.Anything.Aidan would be worse than our father. No kid deserved someone like Aidan in their life. And I knew Roxy had her whole family to support her, but I felt like I had to do something to help.
Maybe I was just trying to prove to her that there was hope her kid wouldn’t be a total deadbeat just because it was half a Fox.Or maybe I was just trying to prove that to myself.
“We should try to do something normal for once,” I commented, trying to keep out of my head.
“Like a date?” he asked.
“A date would be nice,” I agreed. “We’ve had a lot of non-dates.”
“We’ve had… a date thing…” He fumbled over his words in a way that made me smile. “I swear we’ve been on a date… we did breakfast and dirtbikes once.”
“Want to do breakfast and dirtbikes again?” I suggested with a grin.
“Let me take you to a nice dinner tonight, and I’ll say yes,” he replied.
“Are you negotiating a date with another date?” I demanded. I shifted in the chair to better stare at him. The smile he gave me wrapped around my heart, digging in.Fuck, I loved his smile. “Fine, two dates it is.”
“Two dates and a sleepover,” Harley corrected. I arched a brow, but he just shrugged. “If you stay the night, you won’t waste the gas on the back and forth. It just makes logical sense for you to stay with me.”
“Mmm,” I hummed, “logic, right.”
Before he could say anything more, the waiting room door opened, and Roxy walked out with a nurse. She carried a pile ofpamphlets close to her chest, and her usual bubbly nature was heavily subdued. That didn’t bode well for anything.
I stood while Harley remained in his seat. Patience was a virtue because waiting to find out what direction this whole thing was going to take was a little bit like torture. And her pensive expression didn’t improve any as she joined us.
“Will you hate me if I say I want to keep this baby?” Roxy asked, her voice small. I wasn’t used to it. Usually, she was this loud, feral thing with no filter.
“Come here,” I said as I folded my arms around her shoulders and hugged her tight. “No one is going to hate you for keeping your baby.”
Except Aidan.But Aidan could go fuck himself. Hell would freeze over before I let him make her feel bad for making this choice.
Would it complicate things? Probably. Thankfully, her family were great people. There was no way she’d be doing this alone. I just had to figure out how I fit into that equation.
“Maverick,” she whispered into my chest, “I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this. I don’t have my insurance stuff, and I don’t want to call my parents…”
Shit. I should’ve thought about that.
“I’ll take care of it,” I replied. I didn’t have a clue how I was going to pay for it. All the money I had was tied up in the house. As she pulled away, I could tell she didn’t believe me. My financial situation wasn’t exactly a secret. I shoved my hands in my pockets and put on my most convincing smile possible. “Don’t worry about it, Roxy. I’ll figure it—”
“I’ve got it,” Harley cut in.
“It’s fine.” I shook my head. I couldn’t let him take care of it—not for me.
“I’ve got it,” he repeated. He was on his feet and walking to the desk before I could stop him. The steady assurance in his voiceshould’ve been calming, but all it did was grate uncomfortably on something I couldn’t quite put words to. All I knew was her appointment and tests weren’t cheap. I couldn’t ask him to do this.
“Here.” I fished my keys out and handed them to Roxy. “Go get comfortable in the truck while we take care of this, okay?”
“Are you sure?” Roxy said.
“Trust me.” I gave her shoulders a light squeeze meant to comfort her, though I wasn’t sure it did the job. Her expression was too conflicted, so I gently turned her around and gave her a nudge in the direction of the door. As soon as she was gone, I approached the counter to stand next to him. I drummed my fingers on the counter as I watched Harley hand cash over to the woman at the desk.
